


Echoes of the Future

by StrudelCrust



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Eventual TYL, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-23
Updated: 2015-09-06
Packaged: 2018-04-16 19:11:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 23,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4636947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StrudelCrust/pseuds/StrudelCrust
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How Tsuna and his guardians from Ten Years Later, from the future that wouldn't be, came to be. They weren't quite the ones who saved the world, but it's still their future. Starts from after the Varia Arc. </p><p>Basically about the TYL gang we saw in the Future Arc, and how their 9 years and 10 months has been. Each year! Eventually.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue: The Aftermath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The tenth gen from ten years later have like ten years worth of hinted back story and I'm gonna. I'm gonna do it. It started out as a Future Arc timeline and turned into a fanfiction plan where did it all go wrong
> 
> This follows Manga canon, and I'm gonna stick as close to canon as I can, but there's a lot of blank space when it comes to the TYL gang, so there's also going to be a buncha head canons and subplots around. Hope I can go through with all ten years.
> 
> This is mostly just a summary of the aftermath

  _''One day, they will come to regret it. They'll wish they died in this battle.''_

**-A week after the Ring battles-**

Tsuna had been wishing for some peace, after that chaotic, nerve-wracking, life or death battle for the Vongola rings. Things have settled down for now. But chaos is, Tsuna muses gloomily, a constant in his life. He just said his goodbye's to Lanchia and Basil, and Lambo's already kicking up a fuss with Reborn. It's late evening, the sun casting everything in hard orange tones and long shadows, and Tsuna just wants to head home for dinner.

''Stupid bad reborn!'' Lambo wails, face an angry red from bruises and tears, pointing the bazooka at himself. ''Droopy eyebrows!''

''The 10-year bazooka- wait a minute, Lambo!''

Reborn picked up a piece off the road in his hand, and with perfect aim,  _slammed_  the rock right into Lambo's poor, splotchy, tear stained face, with enough force to knock him off his feet.

''Go visit the stars.''

''Guwahh!''

_Merciless as always...wait a minute. The bazooka shell- Its flying towards us!_

''Re-Reborn!''

''Hmm,'' Reborn takes a moment to contemplate the trajectory of the impending rocket. ''Go take a trip to the future, Tsuna.'' He says.

And kicks Tsuna face first towards the whistling, smoking shell.

''Eh? Wait wAIT –'' poof!

For a moment, all Tsuna could see is a bright, shining pink, even with his eyes shut tight - his gut doing cartwheels from feeling so  _weightless_ , then a strong pull from his back and he was flying- screaming, he feels his body hit ground, and it all goes dark... green. There's the distinct smell of dirt and grass, and he hears some rustling and a distant flapping of wings. He stays still for a while, blinking.  _The world 10 years later..._

He really should stop hugging the floor. Tsuna huffs, putting his palms on the grassy dirt, pushes himself up, and brushes himself off. This is...

A forest? What was his future self doing here? Is... Is this place even in Japan?

The sky is tinted a washed out, comforting pale orange, and Tsuna can see a deep turquoise edge approaching from near the east.

Tsuna spots two pale-brown outdoor folding chairs a few steps away from him, accompanying a small, round table. He... might as well wait out the five minutes here instead of getting hopelessly lost in the forest, 10 years in the  _future_ , by himself. Warily, Tsuna takes a seat, the chair creaking softly. Putting both his hands on the table, Tsuna looks back at the trees.

He listens to the wind and the rustling of the leaves. Sounds of rushing water...a river somewhere north? The forest was otherwise silent, and Tsuna can't hear any more birds, or wildlife, even though its dusk.

Tsuna lets out a long breath. Its...  _peaceful_  here, and its been a long time since he felt peace like this. Even though its a little creepy being in a forest.

He's so,  _so_  glad the ring battles were really truly finally over and no one died. Tsuna pulls out the Vongola ring he hung on a cold, metal chain around his neck, and traces his thumb over the engravings. Reborn had forced him to keep it with him, or to at  _least_  wear it with the chain. Tsuna has never really took the time to look at it, and honestly, it is quite beautiful. It feels heavy, the metal radiating a soft, strange warmth, the engravings masterfully intricate, and the dome in the middle glows on its own, blue, dim and eerie. Hardly shows its blood filled history, how clean and shiny the ridges were.

Thinking back, the past week was kind of horrible. The battle had drained him of his everything and all he had left was a deep, aching, empty soreness from his core, stinging burns, bruises and cuts. And the  _homework_! How was there so much? A week of absence absolutely do not warrant  _three_ mountain piles of homework, Tsuna bets reborn sneaked in more, that jerk.

At least there wouldn't be more training until...who knows. But there's no more daily mountain dying-will training for now! Yes!

The teacher's at school didn't question his absence or his injuries, (they seemed disappointed he was even back, actually), the other students still think he was just truanting, though some did show... mild concern. It was harder explaining the absences of Yamamoto and Ryohei, since those two virtually never got sick, but most took their word for it.  _''There's a first time for everything, right?''_

They were both quite possessive over the rings (they  _did_  risk their lives over it), and insisted on wearing it on their persons. Though they cant wear it on their finger because of sports. Strangely, no one had questioned all their matching rings.

Tsuna wonders if they are really still serious about the whole Guardian thing. They're his friends, and Tsuna wants it to stay that way. They shouldnt have to be his guardians. And if they keep carrying those rings, they'll have to fight more, and they're gonna get hurt. Why dont they get it?

Tsuna rests his chin on his right palm.

Dino...Dino returned to Italy yesterday. He had stayed for Reborn and Tsuna's brief birthday parties, and Tsuna had asked Dino, who was trying to get chocolate icing off his jacket, how long Reborn had been teaching him. Tsuna had taken a while to stop gaping when Dino answered, albeit in hushed whispers and constant looks over his shoulder.

'' _5-5 years? But he's only 2!''_

'' _...I don't know if he's okay with me saying this to you now. Thing is, its weird, but he doesn't grow. He hasn't told me anything about why he's... like that. You'll have to let him tell you on his own, Tsuna.''_

Tsuna had then asked Reborn, timidly, somewhat hoping Reborn didn't hear; because Dino made it seemed like it was a taboo topic to bring up, the way he was whispering. But after a long, tense silence, he hears Reborn answer him with snores.

_This guy- !_

What Tsuna couldn't get out of his head that night though, was what Dino told him before he went back to Italy.

'' _He's a ruthless, demonic, spartan home tutor, but... appreciate him while he's still with you, Tsuna.''_

The thought of Reborn no longer being in his life had terrified him, even to the point of keeping him up for hours, staring at his bedroom ceiling, thinking.

Its weird, and its worrying. Had he really come to depend on Reborn so much?

Tsuna traces the lines and grooves of the pale brown table with his eyes, and rests his chin on his other hand. These 5 minutes is getting long. When is it going to- oh.

The return goes by a lot quicker with less inter-dimensional free falling through time. Tsuna waves the pink smoke away, and gets up from the ground. Reborn is still here, face hidden and adjusting his hat with one hand. His face somewhat even more unreadable than usual.

''Reborn?''

''...Let's go back, dame-Tsuna.''

''Ow- hey! You didn't have to  _kick_  me! Get off of my head!''

''You still have homework, don't you?''

''N-no... Alright okay, I did- stop kicking my head!''

''So get a move on, stupid.''

Tsuna lets out a whine but bites back a retort, because his head's not going to get any peace if he does. The walk back home was relatively quiet, and Tsuna watches his shadow drag on in the setting light as he walks, the silhouette of reborn's hat stark and clear.

And Tsuna's life with his demon home-tutor hitman Rebon, continues on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tsuna goes exactly 10 years later, which means the Future Arc was done and over with, since that happened 9 years and 10 months later. It works because time is weird. 
> 
> The quote up there is from Squalo!
> 
> I'm kind of new to writing so uhm. Please be nice if you review? Any suggestions for the story or for my writing would be much appreciated!
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	2. Target

**-Weekend-**

This early afternoon, Gokudera and Haru had collectively showed up in front of Tsuna's house, bickering, until Tsuna opened the door and was greeted with packaged yatsuhashi and cheer. Then he was dragged, not that unwillingly, to the Namimori New Underground Shopping Mall event. Tsuna ended up not having the chance to grab his jacket, and its chilly out. So Tsuna spent most of the event trying to not rub his arms lest Gokudera freak.

''Had fun?''

''Yeah.'' Even though Tsuna feels like burying himself in his entire hoodie collection, he did have fun.

''Absolutely, Reborn-san!'' Then, as if realizing something, he adds quickly. ''Tch. If only that stupid woman didn't come along.''

''Gokudera-kun...''

Gokudera is here to help Tsuna with his homework, which he had said, eyes shining, fist clenched to his chest, was his duty as Tsuna's right hand man. His teaching is still way too advanced for Tsuna's level... but he appreciates it. Haru had parted ways to go on a cake spree with Kyoko.

''Well...it sure is peaceful.'' Tsuna finishes the snack he had bought in the event, stretches, and lies down, back on his messy excuse of a bedroom floor. ''I hope things stay like this forever.''

''Tenth...''

''You're hoping for too much, idiot Tsuna,'' Reborn says, sipping on a small cup of espresso. ''I meant it, when I said that you are only going to be targeted more from now on.''

''Huh?''

In a second, Tsuna feels his good mood vanish. It's replaced with a sinking, sticky feeling above his stomach, and Tsuna  _knows_  he's not going to like what he's about to hear. Reborn puts down his espresso and continues, as if feeding off of Tsuna's dread like the demon he is.

''The Ninth had chosen you for a long time, and it was a clear enough signal sending me here. Defeating Xanxus means you are now the official heir to Vongola.''

''But I don't-''

''Even if you don't want to, the assassins will still come.'' Reborn's hat tilts forward, hiding his eyes. ''All the Ninth biological son's were assassinated soon after being named heir.''

Tsuna's sitting up now, his brows furrowed, amber eyes focused on Reborn. Gokudera remains strangely silent.

''The next few months will be crucial, Tsuna,'' Reborn lifts his head back up, and looks at him. And smiles. ''I'm sure your guardians will do their job well.''

Oh no.

''A-Absolutely, Reborn-san! Don't worry tenth, I, your right hand man, definitely wont let you get assassinated!'' Gokudera stands up in a flash, fire in his eyes, almost knocking the table over. Tsuna edges backwards quickly with his hands up, waving. He didn't have to rile him up like that!

''Eh? You- you don't have to-''

''I'll go patrol the town right now! You wont even need the rest of the guardians, Tenth!''

''Go-Gokudera-kun!''

''So then!'' and he's gone.

Tsuna could then hear his footsteps marching down the stairs of his house, a muffled goodbye to his mom, fading off into the distance. He sighs.

''It's good to have such loyal subordinates, Tsuna.'' Reborn chimes, all smiley, overlapping his tiny arms, looking fully satisfied with himself.

Reborn is the  _worst_.

**-Friday-**

''Assassins?''

For the past week, Gokudera had been all over town every late night and early morning, and gotten even scarier in school. Tsuna finds himself more worried about Gokudera than impending assassins looking to overthrow an big old powerful mafia family by killing a middle schooler- he looked like he's already dead and risen from the grave by Thursday. Does he sleep?

Even Yamamoto had noticed. Which is why he dragged Tsuna out of the classroom where Gokudera was out cold on the school desk, head hidden in his arms, snoring loudly. Tsuna explained everything to Yamamoto once he's confident no one was around.

''Yeah, assassins. Gokudera's been patrolling and looking for them since Sunday. I- I don't think he slept at all.''

''That's bad! I get being dedicated but he shouldn't get so serious over a roleplay!'' Yamamoto crosses his arms, disapproving. ''That's really unhealthy.''

_He still thinks it's a mafia game?_

''Did you try talking him out of it?''

''I don't... think I can.'' Tsuna recalls to the time when he had tried to convince him and Yamamoto to reject the rings. Look what happened. ''What if he got even more serious!''

''Well... Leave it to me, Tsuna. I'll talk to him.''

''Eh? But-''

''Just go wait up at the rooftop and start lunch without me! I'll see what I can do.''

So, Tsuna waits at the rooftop. Nibbling absently on an eggroll, not really looking at anything. The breeze is nice, its quiet, and the skies are looking averagely nice today.

Ryohei is having lunch with his club mates, and Kyoko is with Hana. Reborn hasn't popped up yet for some reason. For the first time in a while, Tsuna's having lunch alone. There's a weird pressure building up on the back of his head, Tsuna tries to shake his head and pat it away, because it's uncomfortable. But the door creaks open, and it disappears.

Yamamoto appears from behind the door, his face is looking uncharacteristically dark, and Tsuna feels a whole different kind of pressure.

He turns to face Tsuna and laughs, looking a little brighter, though not all. Yamamoto shrugs his shoulders and scratches his neck. Grinning. Does a bit of laughing.

''He got mad at me.''

''...What did you tell him?''

Yamamoto sits down next to Tsuna, and brings out a sandwich. He unwraps the plastic, and takes a bite. After a while, another.

''He told him to take care of himself if he wants to protect you better.''

''Reborn!''

''Kid- crap, you were there?'' Yamamoto scratches the back of his head, and gives a shaky laugh.

''Yeah. Tsuna's your boss, you can tell him anything.'' Reborn, who was wearing a counsellor costume, turns to Tsuna and jabs his side with a pen. ''And as their boss, you should know everything that happens.''

''Ow- I'm not their boss! And you- you made that up, didn't you!''

''So?''

''Argh! Why are you always so-''

''Tsuna! Get down!''

For a while, all Tsuna could hear was gunshots. Loud- louder than any of Reborn's shots or Lambo's grenades- there's dust flying, pieces of the rooftop floor bursting, he feels himself pushed onto the ground, then lifted up again by the shoulders, Tsuna could see the sad remains of Yamamoto's sandwhich splattered across the ground, and Yamamoto now pushing him towards the roof door, through it, and Tsuna watches him slam the door close and drag him by the hand down the stairs, Tsunas feet heavy and sloppy against Yamamoto's agile skipping - but thankfully compliant.

After some running, Reborn stops Yamamoto in his tracks before he could head down the third level. Both boys are breathing sharp, erratic breaths, Yamamoto from adrenaline, and Tsuna from that and fatigue. They follow Reborn's gesture to crouch down, under the windows.

''Wh- what was- what was that?'' Tsuna splutters out once he could think properly again. Reborn might have said something, but Tsuna's ears were still ringing. Yamamoto looked like he was laughing. Gokudera appears from around the corner, and gave a brief, worried look over Tsuna, then grab's Yamamoto by the collar and yells something at him. Yamamoto stopped laughing, and he's looking at Gokudera with serious intense eyes, even though he probably also cant hear whatever he was shouting.

Reborn must have said  _something_ , because Gokudera stopped shouting and dropped Yamamoto on the floor.

Gokudera looked about to bolt towards the roof then, but Tsuna manages to grab him by the arm. He gestures for him to sit down. Gokudera still looks like a zombie, skin pale, eyes sunken and dark, silver hair unruly, and Tsuna seriously doesn't want him to run straight into gunfire for whatever reason he has. That was  _really_  scary!

Tsuna rubs at his ears. Once the ringing lowered and Tsuna could somewhat hear again, he asks once more. Voice wavering, ''What happened?''

Reborn would have rolled his eyes, if he could. He just sighs at Tsuna.

''That was an assassination attempt. Amateurly done. Either that or they were trying to get attention or send a message.'' Which was impossible in Namimori, town of denial. Tsuna bets everyone else in school had thought it was fireworks. ''Yamamoto saved your life.''

At this, Gokudera can't hold back himself anymore from banging his head on the floor, and shouting apologies.

''Go-Gokudera-kun!''

''I'm so sorry, Tenth! I'm a failure as your right hand man! I'm so sorry!''

''Gokudera-kun! Stop that!''

''I wasn't here to protect you! To let something like this happen, I don't deserve to serve you!'' Oh god. There's blood splattering on the floor. Is his head bleeding?

''Gokudera-''

''I'll go find the assassins! I'll make sure they-''

''GOKUDERA!''

Everyone stares at Tsuna, Yamamoto's mouth slightly hanging open. 

Gokudera is completely still, barely breathing, looking deathly pale, and his blood is all smeared across his forehead and dripping over his nose.

Ouch.

''I- uh. Just. Please listen, Gokudera-kun.'' Tsuna drags a hand over his face, combs his messy fringe back, takes a slow breath and sighs. How to say this... ''I don't care about all that. And you've worked really hard these past few days! Its not your fault.''

''But...I didn't-''

''He's right, you know.'' Yamamoto adds.

''Of course the Tenth is right! I- uh.''

Yamamoto laughs. Gokudera is stuck between a scowl and a laugh and probably tears. This is probably the weirdest and most terrifying face Tsuna ever sees Gokudera make, and the blood doesn't help. ''A-anyway, we should-''

'' _Herbivours_. _For bringing vermin into my school, I'll bite you to death._ ''

Well, they were heading to the infirmary anyways.

**-Tuesday-**

Since then, Gokudera had, to Tsuna's relief, grudgingly taken Yamamoto's advice to rest (though just barely) and had taken to sticking by his right side again, two steps behind. He's looking less zombie and more... student-after-finals now. It's a little better. 

Right now, school was over for the day. And so was dinner. Tsuna had done his homework in a mad rush,  _time bombs, spiky weapons everywhere- where did Reborn even get so many bombs-_ and survived, so he's on his bed reading manga while reborn cuts paper into small pieces on his little hammock with his little Leon siscors. Tsuna doesn't ask. But... he does have a question he's curious to hear answered.

''Hey, Reborn?''

''Hmm.''

Tsuna contemplates if he should really ask this. He  _knows_  he's going to regret asking- but, ''Why haven't you taught me Italian?''

Reborn goes worryingly still, Leon scissors mid-cut. Tsuna holds his manga an inch closer towards his face.

Slowly, he replies. ''Why, you want to learn it now?''

''Eh- no, not really...just asking? Because, you're always trying to make me be a mafia boss and learn mafia rules - but you've never really taught me Italian?'' It's a question that Tsuna honestly didn't want to ask; lest Reborn starts teaching him Italian-but he  _felt_  it was important. For whatever reason it is, he doesn't know.

''Well...I was planning to just let you learn by yourself once you're in Italy,'' Reborn puts down the Leon scissors, and Tsuna blanches. Learn Italian by himself in Italy? That's horrible! ''But now that you've asked, we could start now. And keep track of that feeling, Tsuna.''

''Eh? What- I don't want to learn Italian! And my English is  _horrible_  – you know that, so I cant learn Italian! There's no way!''

''Stop that pathetic whining. You wouldn't know till you try.'' Reborn hops down from his hammock, in his suit again. With a loud thud, he set tall stacks of books and paper decorated in alphabets and words incomprehensible to Tsuna on his desk. Tsuna watches some paper flutter off the stack, all his stuff knocked off the table, and he feels like he might scream soon. ''We'll start now.''

''Its 10pm!''

''You've stayed later for less.''

''No! No way! You cant make me learn Italian!''  _It'll make me even more mafia! No!_

Reborn huffs.

''Sassagawa Kyoko might think you're cool if you knew Italian.''

''Eh?''

**-Wednesday-**

Tsuna is dead.

Or, he might as well be, seeing as he's not getting up from his desk even though its lunch time, even with Yamamoto poking incessantly on his arm. Especially even with Gokudera's not giving him any peace.

''Uuuughhhmmmmmmmffffff'' Tsuna raises his head from his arms, but doesn't open his eyes.

''Tsuna! What happened to you?'' Yamamoto stops his poking. Tsuna feels like his arm might have a bruise, now.

''Reborn. Reborn happened,'' Tsuna shifts his head down again, and puts his hand up to cradle his aching head. He groans. ''Reborn made me learn Italian till morning.''

Gokudera, who's been muttering concern and tearing hairs out for the past 10 minutes due to Tsuna's inconsiderate half-deadness, stops at this, and  _beams_. His eyes may as well be covered with glitter, the way they're sparkling at Tsuna right now. Not that Tsuna can see, with his eyelids stapled shut in mental fatigue. ''The Tenth is learning Italian?''

''...Yeah.''

Or, trying to. Reborn has crammed in as much vocabulary, pronouns, reflexive terms, measurements, basic words and grammar, numbers, the most of a beginner Italian course as he could in 5 hours, and Tsuna hardly remembers any of them.

''Well... at least I learned what Squalo's been shouting all this time.''

''Squalo?'' Yamamoto asks. Gokudera gives a little snort.

''You know... The Voiiii thing?'' Tsuna mutters, still refusing to open his eyes or sit up properly. God, his head hurts. ''Voi means something like... 'you all'. And his name means... great shark. That's so weird.''

''So that's what Squalo's been shouting!'' Yamamoto laughs at that, with a loud wheeze at the shark bit, then takes a look at the clock. ''So... how you feeling now, Tsuna? Well enough for lunch? We could eat here if you want.''

''Here, here would be nice.''

''If you say so, Tenth!'' Gokudera quickly gets his store bought rice balls, while Yamamoto brings out a lunch box. Tsuna drags his out too, hoping mom made something he likes today. He blinks his eyes open, and wince at the light. In his bento box was...

Pasta. Clam pasta.

''Oh? I wasn't aware Tenth's mother could make Italian food as well! That looks delicious, Tenth!''

''Ah! Seafood stir fried somen noodles!''

''What..?''

''Reborn!''

**-Thursday-**

When Tsuna woke up next morning, all he saw was green. Then the green opened its beady little yellow eyes, blinked at him, then was lifted, slowly away from his face, and landed  **heavily**  onto his stomach.

''Svegliare!''

''OW owow oww I'm awake I'm awake!'' Tsuna bends over, clutching is stomach, hissing, and blinks back tears. ''What time is it?''

''Its 'a che ora' in Italian.''

''... ah ke oh ra?''

''Alle sei e quindici.''

''I- I don't...''

Reborn throws his clock over at him and Tsuna lets go of his stomach to clumsily catch the clock. He fails, and it falls on the floor with a clang. It shows the time just fine from there though. Tsuna squints at it.

''Six... six fifteen. Aaauuughhhh.'' He falls back on to his bed.

Reborn talks some Italian to him again, and Tsuna's only wish is to go back to sleep. But a glance at Leon's glistening glow-y yellow eyes got him scrambling out of his bed to prepare for school. Why are there white stickers all over his room.

''Those are not getting off till you remember what things are called. Got it?''

''Okay, okay. geez.'' Tsuna trudges towards his wardrobe and squints at the white label. ''...il ...ah ru ma di o.''

''il  _armadio_.''

''What I said.''

''We'll work on your pronunciation after school,'' Reborn goes on while he changes. ''We'll watch some Italian dramas, the more you listen to it the better.'' Tsuna fumbles with the buttons on his dress shirt, and pulls on his pants, still half-awake. ''I've got some more books for you too, bring them with you.'' Tsuna shrugs on his...giacca? '' _La_   _giacca_.'' Tsuna nods. But a look at reborn makes him freeze.

_Why's he smiling like that?_

''We'll be resuming your  _addestramento_  next week, Tsuna. '' Reborn says, polishing a gun, still grinning. ''Find out what that means yourself.''

_It could only mean one thing!_

''Tsu-kun? Are you up? If you are, help your dear mom with breakfast, wont you?''

 _I'm saved!_ ''C-coming!''

''Breakfast in Italian is  _colazione_. Got that...?'' Too slow. Tsuna had already escaped.

''He's only fast on his feet in times like these, huh.''

**-Sunday-**

Before Tsuna noticed, it's already December. For the past two and a half weeks, Reborn had been cramming in Italian lessons left and right, getting him to read Italian books way above his level and watching Italian films, then making him do physical training in the weekends with Yamamoto and Gokudera, and...fighting.

Fighting with flames from the vongola rings.

Reborn had gathered the five of them that weekend, Gokudera, Yamamoto, Ryohei, Lambo and Tsuna, and explained, ''That Mammon had said the rings hold power. And you've all seen them lit in flames.'' A collective nod. Lambo was already asleep. ''The Ninth and his Guardians fought with flames from the rings, which is yours now. ''

Each of them, sans Lambo, tightened their fist on the metal ring.

Reborn said that Hibari's already informed thanks to Dino, and Mukuro may have known about it already. Its not like he's got much else to do besides gathering information.

''Focus, Tsuna. Mukuro would spit at your worry.''

''What- I wasn't!'' Tsuna had to bite back a small  _he wouldn't_  at that comment. He's still not sure why he feels it so.

It took them half a day, but most of the Guardians (his  _friends_ , damn it), managed to light their rings in flickering, beautiful, brightly coloured flames. Except for Tsuna.

''I don't see-'' Tsuna took in a breath. Trying to make something happen with pure will, against his bottomless self-doubt, was taxing. ''-why I need more flames, anyways?'' Tsuna slumps over, sitting on the mountain ground, defeated. ''What's the difference?''

''Tsk tsk tsk.''  _Hey!_

''So much blood was shed over these rings for a reason, Tsuna. They hold incredible power.'' Reborn stated, in full scholar costume, stroking a fake moustache. ''You need it.''

''I didn't want these rings!'' Tsuna reminded him. And he still doesn't. But Tsuna has no choice over this.

''You've shed blood over it too, and its yours now. Anyways, I'm sure your Guardians can tell you the difference.''

Yamamoto had held a fresh leaf over his lit ring for a while, before going back to flicking his finger repeatedly over the azure blue flame, biting his lips and eyes crinkled, giggling. Gokudera holding up a  _ruler,_  of all instruments, a standard yellow ruler, to measure the erratic angry red flame on his ring, and muttering to himself. Ryohei was shouting at his. Lambo still on a mossy rock, snoring.

'' _Well, if you're going to be useless, go get us drinks.''_

And that was that. Till now, Tsuna still couldn't light a flame on his ring. He pulls up the chain on his neck holding the piece of metal, and holds back a sigh.

He fails.

He knows very well he doesn't have enough resolution to do it. He's a loser with no ambition. What did they expect? He's useless-Tsuna!

''If you're going to mope, do it in your sleep.''

''Re-Reborn! Where were you?''

''Got a call from someone, now stop wasting time and go count from uno to duemille e cinquantasette.''

''Wha- due what? ...And he's already asleep.'' Tsuna glares at Reborn's snot bubble, and the visible rise and fall of his tiny baby chest. Tsuna pulls his blankets over his head with more force than necessary, and starts to count with what he can remember. Uno, due, tre... ...

**-Monday-**

Tsuna is really tired. Counting in Italian had ended up keeping him awake for much longer, and got him thinking and moping-about what, he can't remember.

And Reborn's creeping up to him again, with that dreaded ten-ton Leon hammer, saying in that high pitched nasally baby voice straight from the deepest darkest depths of Hell,

'' _What's_  ' _I'm off to buy 10 books' in Italian'_ , Tsuna?''

''Ho comprare dieci libri! Sveglio, sveglio!''

''Tsuna!''

''Eh- Yamamoto? Cosa-oh.''

Tsuna's in school, and Reborn's not going to wake him up with a mean green lizard hammer and Italian pop-quizzes. Phew. Tsuna tries to ignore the snickering of his classmates that was staying in class for lunch. He tries harder to ignore Gokudera's death threats towards them.

Though...considering the throbbing lump on his the side of his head, that dream may have actually been a memory. That Reborn knocked clean out of his head till now, that jerk. Tsuna sighs, rubbing at his eyes, using his other hand to knead at the lump.

''You okay, Tsuna?'' Yamamoto's been asking that a lot recently. That's worrying.

''I'm okay! Just... tired.''

It could have been much worse. They could have been going through something like the Ring Battles again, and Tsuna prefers being tired than fighting for his life. ''How's baseball?''

Yamamoto's eyes light up.

Tsuna listens to him ramble, a few quiet moments when they eat. While Gokudera insults Yamamoto time to time, but mostly content just sipping on a can of melon soda and radiating killer intent. ...Friendly killer intent.

Once Yamamoto ran out of baseball news in time for lunch to end, they part ways to their separate desks. Before Gokudera walks back though, he goes still as if remembering something, then turns to Tsuna and reports the result of his daily patrol, which Tsuna had missed because he was busy sleeping.

''I haven't found anything suspicious around town for days, not even a trace of those shooters.'' He says, with a slight frown. Not that its much different from his usual face. ''That battle maniac dealt with them, I think.''

Because Tsuna thinks the same, he nodded. And let out a quick, nervous laugh, because Hibari's existence is so much more terrifying than assassins out for his life. Tsuna is  _so_  relieved that he's on the same... general direction that Hibari is. It's incredibly reassuring.

Gokudera then bows and returns to his seat, and the afternoon continues, slow and uneventful. It's an unusually warm November afternoon, so Tsuna found himself missing most of it, head in his arms, the coarse sweater sleeve rubbing on his face, half-heartedly listening to the monotonous lecture he can't understand...

 

''Tenth? Tenth? School's dismissed...''

For the second time that day, Tsuna escapes the Reborn of his sub-consciousness, shouting. ''Questa colazione é insipido!'' Gokudera blinks at him, but says nothing to that.

''Haha! What's that mean, Tsuna?''

-o-o-

They decided to spend the evening at Tsuna's place.

''Mom?'' Tsuna calls, while putting away his shoes. ''Gokudera-kun and Yamamoto are hanging over for a while! Are there snacks?''

''Oh— yes!'' Nana appears from the living room, holding a half-open magazine. She holds it to her lips, and takes a moment to contemplate. ''Go ahead up first, I'm going to make more and bring it up later.''

''Sorry for the trouble, Nana-san.'' ''Thanks for your hospitality, tenth's mother!'' Yamamoto and Gokudera bow at the same time. Gokudera then scowls at Yamamoto, offended, giving a huff and crosses his arms.

''Oh my, oh my~ now you boys go have fun.''

Yamamoto and Gokudera take off their shoes, and head upstairs. The sounds of their footsteps linger, and Tsuna realizes he doesn't hear any other voices or sounds in the house. Lambo would have jumped on him by now, obnoxious laughter inches from his ears, and demanded Tsuna to play with him, while I-pin shouts at him to behave, Bianchi would say something disturbing, and Fuuta would have also demanded play time, in his own quiet but irrefutable way. Its kind of a daily routine. ''Mom? Where's everyone?''

''Oh, Fuuta-kun, Lambo-kun, and Ipin-chan headed over to the Sassagawas to play. Bianchi-chan has gone to gather more ingredients, she said~''

''Oh.'' That's good. That means Tsuna can finally  _try_  to do his homework, with more peace and quite than usual. Not so good concerning Bianchi's... ingredient gathering, but good. There's a strangely familiar pressure building near the back of his head where it meets his neck, though it probably means Reborn was up to something. And he's  _definitely_  up to something, because Tsuna hasn't seen him all day, and he's not even home.

Its rarely ever so quiet. Tsuna can hear cars on the streets, bicycles whistling, the wind's whispers among the trees. Strangers varying distant voices, a knock on a door far away...sounds usually covered by the chaos in his life, otherwise called his friends. Who's being rather quiet as well, once they filled themselves with Mom's snacks and drinks.

Gokudera's tapping a pen, chewing on his lips, examining a complex looking math paper that's definitely not from the school, and Yamamoto scribbling down paragraphs for language class, one hand supporting his chin.

Tsuna tries hard to appreciate the small moment of piece, but he cant ease the tension he's feeling. And its only getting stronger by the second—

_What is Reborn up to?_

Tsuna shakes his head, and tries to focus on the papers again. History, right...

-thud-

Tsuna looks up at the sound, and freezes. Gokudera and Yamamoto were laying face down on the table, hands loosely cupping their pens. But that wasn't what made Tsuna seize up and his blood run cold. Tsuna could feel the icy, sharp, curved side of a metal blade against the back of his neck, Tsuna's head held back by a hand grabbing his hair with a steel grip. The blade holds firmly, against his skin, not digging any  _further_ , but worryingly present. Tsuna could feel the cut stinging, and something warm trickle down the base of his neck, flowing, his thumping heart not helping— but. 

_Why isn't he doing anything?_

A click.

Tsuna holds his breath. And turns his eyes, as much as possible towards his left. Hoping his shaking doesn't dig the blade further in.

_Reborn?_

Reborn, looking as calm as deadly as a baby shouldn't be, hat lowered and eyes shadowed, was here and overwhelming the room with his own killing intent. He wasn't pointing the gun at Tsuna's forehead, so that means he's not fighting. But Tsuna can feel the sharpness of that metal blade cutting his skin, his head pulled back by the hair, and something within him tells him—  _one quick swipe of that, and you're done for._ How's reborn going to stop the assassin before he gets killed?

Reborn opens his mouth.

''I'm the number one hitman in the world. Don't forget that, Tsuna.''

''...Eh?''

Tsuna blinks, and the hand gripping his hair slackens and falls off. The sharp pressure on his neck disappear, swiftly replaced with a different, softer, cottony kind.  _What_.

''Keep holding on it, Tsuna.''

''What—'' Tsuna repeats out loud, but complies, putting his hand up to hold onto the gauze against his neck. He watches Reborn jump on to the table where his friends were, before turning around to find that the assassin was out cold, kissing the floor. ''Wh-when did—''

''Drugs...''Reborn says after sniffing at the drinks. He then lifts Yamamoto's head up, putting his tiny baby fingers everywhere and prodding all over Yamamoto's slack face, then move on to do the same for Gokudera. '' ...These two will be back up in half an hour. You're lucky these aren't poison.''

''Eh? Poison?! But mom— wait, how's mom? Is she still downstairs?''

''I found her asleep on the kitchen table. She's not injured.''

''That-that's good, '' Tsuna breathes out, and slumps over the table, still holding on to the gauze. Which is getting kind of sticky. ''Good thing Bianchi and the kids are all out right now.'' Reborn rustles through a first aid box -  _when did he bring that out? -_  and cleans up Tsuna's wound silently. Tsuna hisses at the antiseptic, while Reborn slaps it and makes him really have something to complain about.

''Hey...Reborn? Where were you?'' Tsuna mumbles once reborn was done with the first aid. Reborn's looking somehow much more serious than usual, so... it probably wasn't another one of his 'mafia boss training' schemes.

Reborn is pulling out pockets from the assassin's jackets and pants now, and doesn't answer Tsuna's question. Tsuna absently prods at the gauze on his neck, but doesn't ask again. The wound is still stinging a little from the antiseptic, his heart still a little jumpy, and he feels the cut start to throb.

Tsuna's so not enthusiastic about any head turning activities for the next few days. Or explaining to Gokudera.

Once he was done picking off everything the assassin had in possession except his clothes, Reborn took a moment to examine the pile of equipment. He picks up a blue, reflective emblem patch, and his hat lowers so far down that his eyes are almost completely covered in shadow and fabric. Tsuna has seen him silent and serious like this not that long ago, and this doesn't bode well.

Reborn tightens his hold on the emblem. He puts it away in his black hole of a jacket, and grits his teeth. Tsuna is ready to bolt.

''...This could be the assassin group that did away with the Ninth sons.'' He says softly, then raises his head back up, as if contemplating something.

''Reborn?''

''I'll be bringing him away for interrogation.'' Reborn says, with a cheer, dark shadows and killer intent gone in a flash.

''I-interrogation? Are you serious?''

''Stop being so soft, Tsuna.'' Reborn chastises, pouting. '' What would you have done if the drinks he gave everyone was really poison?''

''I—'' Tsuna has a startlingly clear image of what he would have done. The thought of his friends, his mom- never getting back up,  _because of him_ \- Shaking his head, Tsuna gulps. Terrible, terrible thoughts. Bad. They're getting back up in 30 minutes, no, 10 minutes, Tsuna reminds himself.

''He,'' Tsuna mutters. ''...He didn't give poison. ''

Reborn pauses mid step out the door, holding -  _dragging_  the assassin across the floor by the leg, the assassin still unconscious and face still flat against the floor. Tsuna can see spit trailing. Reborn is just that inconsiderate... and is looking at Tsuna with a unreadable face. No- scratch that. He just laughed at him, if him putting his hand over his mouth, huffing, eyes condescending and brows drooping, says anything.

''I'll be in the basement if you need me.'' Reborn resumes dragging the assassin cross Tsuna's bedroom floor.  _We have a basement?_

''Wait!'' Tsuna feels he  _really, really_  shouldn't, gaahhh, but- ''Bring...bring me along. I have some questions I need to ask too. But uh...you wont do anything—'' Tsuna bites his lips. ''You're not gonna. Torture him? Right?''

Reborn continues dragging the body out. Tsuna gets a hunch that he's... probably not up for torture, for once. Tsuna's not hopeful.

''...Come along, stupid.'' Tsuna hears Reborn's voice from down the stairs. He really hopes he's not going to regret this, stupid,  _stupid_  Tsuna.

He'll explain to his friends later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapters will probably not always be this long, I didnt know where to cut this off sooo.
> 
> Please leave a review if you like!


	3. Q&A

Tsuna's feeling nervous.

There really is a basement, and all 15 years of his life, Tsuna hadn't known about it. And Tsuna doubts his mom did either, because the latch to it was behind a bush in the backyard, hidden by dirt and grass, and the only way to get in was to climb down a ladder into a dark room. No wonder they don't ever use it.

Reborn had dropped the assassin leg first in the hatch. The sound that followed didn't sound fun. To Tsuna.

''Did you really have to...?'' Tsuna had asked.

''Are you climbing in,'' Reborn answered, halfway down the ladder. ''Or am I going to have to come up and do the same to you?''

Tsuna followed him in hastily.

The basement looks to be a room a bit smaller than Tsuna's own, with grey walls barely illuminated by the outside light from the open hatch, housing a collection of cobwebs and holes, the floor covered in a blanket of dust.

There... wasn't much else in there.

Reborn had then set up the assassin to a sitting position, on a chair that appeared from nowhere, and set Leon – who turned into a rope, on him.

Tsuna finally gave a proper look at the assassins face, and gulps. That's a lot of scars for a face. A lot of orderly, straight pale yellow lines; jagged at the edges, spaced a centimetre apart, running from the top of the assassin's forehead to the bottom of his chin. Not even stopping at the eyelids or lips. He had short, dark brown curls covering his head, so there's no way of knowing if the lines continued all the way. Something like that can't have happened naturally... Tsuna tries to suppress a shudder. What is wrong with this guy?

The assassin started to stir, and the scarred skin near his brows scrunch up. Tsuna jumped, while Reborn got to business.

''Clarenzio Turiano,  _spill_.''

-o-o-o-

Gokudera was the first to wake up.

He took a look at Yamamoto's still form, and the absence of Tenth in the room. He tries to suppress a yawn, but fails. Yamamoto mumbles, shifted his head, and went quiet again.

Gokudera rubs at his eyes, and returns to his papers. Hopefully the Tenth will return from his toilet break soon...hmm? A note?

**Reborn appeared, going to basement. Will explain everything later! -Tsuna**

The Tenth's house has a basement?

''Gokudera...?'' Yamamoto stirs, and lifts his head up to blink at said person. Yamamoto's hair was all mussed up, school uniform crinkled around his sweater. He crunches his eyes again when he yawns wide, stretching his back.

Yamamoto rubs his head, and with an amused,  _idiotic_  grin, he asks, ''...What are you doing in my house?''

''This is the Tenth's house.''

''Tsuna? Oh.'' Yamamoto laughs. When ever is he not laughing? ''Where is he, anyways?''

Gokudera hands over the note.

''...Tsuna has a basement?''

-o-o-o-

The assassin, Clarenzio, had been to Tsuna's surprise, eager to part with some information. He talked in Japanese, too, so Tsuna could catch up. He had said, with sunken brown eyes, that his family was taken. He then struggled with himself for a moment, which was where Reborn cut in, and said that he's already taken off the listening device. As with most of his stuff.

''My little sister.'' He continued then, eyes wide.

''They have her- its either her, or you,'' he drops his head, closing his eyes. He reminded Tsuna of Lanchia, in that moment. ''She- she's only 10. Please, please help me! I'll tell you everything you need to know!''

''...You're lying.''

Tsuna didn't mean to say that. Tsuna really didn't mean to say that. He sounds really sad! Reborn gives him a glance, then returns his attention to Clarenzio.

''I- I understand if you don't believe me.'' He slumps over, sighing. ''It is still truth.''  _Liar._

Tsuna tells himself to shut up. The guy's not lying. He's  _not—_

Maybe he's made a face, because Reborn is smiling like he just saw someone fell off a ladder and spilled paint all over themselves.

''Very specific, Tsuna.''

''Uh.'' Oops?

Reborn then turns back to the confused assassin, and says, ''Drop the act. Tsuna can see through your sloppy lies. Honestly, even a baby could.'' He grins.

Clarenzio blinks, and sits up straight again, every impression of a haunted man made to do bad deeds gone. ''Come on, that wasn't sloppy.'' He clicks his tongue, then pouts with his split lips, making Tsuna feel a bit queasy. ''You guys are just good.''

''So spill. I'm sure you'd rather not do it the painful way.'' Reborn's eyes gleam in the dim light, and he smirks. ''Though I much prefer the painful way.''

''Oh- no, no thanks. I'll spill. I'm not a fan of pain.'' Clarenzio waves his hands, though only at the wrist, thanks to Leon rope. Reborn visibly sags in disappointment. ''And you'll know if it's the truth. That's not fun at all, geez. Ask whatever you want.''

''What happened to your face?'' Tsuna blurts out.

Clarenzio snorts at Tsuna's lack of tact, and Tsuna blushes. The blood rushing makes his neck wound throb, and he winces. ''It's a Family thing. Didn't hurt. Next question.''

''Who sent you?''

''...My boss.''

''Purpose and Reason.''

''Assassinate Sawada Tsunayoshi, the reason...'' Clarenzio tries to shrug, but Leon rope kept his torso still. He lowers his head and sticks out his chin to mimic a shrug instead. ''Boss's orders.''

''Your purpose and reason?''

''I just follow boss's orders. I think he chose me 'cos I'm the one who's most okay with killing the youngin's.'' He tilts his head and stretches his split lips into a smirk. ''Not sure why the others don't like it as much. Such easy pickings.''

''What do you think, Tsuna?''

Tsuna rubs his left arm. He makes a face, and shrugs. Because there wasn't the word  _liar_ echoing in his mind, Tsuna didn't feel any wrongness to the statements. Which is horrible, because those statements are so  _wrong_. He continues to make a face and hopes Reborn gets it.

Reborn nods. He continues.

''Who orchestrated the deaths of Enrico, Massimo and Federico.''

''Ohh, good question.'' Clarenzio looks to the side, humming. ''I don't know much about it, though. Wasn't there.''  _Liar._

''...Tsuna. Yamamoto and Gokudera should be up and about by now. Go talk to them.''

''Eh? Now?'' They've only just started!

''Ask the thing you said you wanted to ask before you go. You still want to, right?''

''Oh, uhm. That. I'm not sure if its uh, well-'' Tsuna plays with his fingers, pinching one with his thumb and index finger, twisting a little. ''I'm not sure if. I don't really know how to... if its, uhm.''

''Hurry up.''

''Okay- okay! You, Clarenzio, you didn't... put poison. In the drinks.''

He takes a moment to consider what Tsuna's asking. Once he does, he makes a face of understanding, and makes an slow, wide nod.

''Ohhh, should I have? Got bad friends?''

''No! I meant,'' Tsuna scratches his head, mussing up his hair. ''I guess, thanks... for not... poisoning my friends?''

Clarenzio blinks at him. And shakes his head, huffing. Reborn glances at Tsuna from under his hat. The silence stretches for a beat, and Tsuna should probably get going.

''Reborn? You're not going to kill him, right?'' Tsuna asks, brows furrowed, a hand on the ladder bar.

''Depends. Your friends are waiting.'' Reborn says, with a 'I'm just a cute innocent baby and cant do anything wrong' face. He points a shining black pistol at Tsuna, smirking. ''Hurry up and go.''

Tsuna scrambles out of the basement.

He takes a moment to breathe in the fresher, crisp surface air. Then lets it back out, almost sighing. The sky had turned orange again, covering everything else with its warm tones. It's getting cold out. Tsuna rubs at his arms, and spots Gokudera and Yamamoto talking to his mom at the living room by the porch.

''H-hey.'' Tsuna greets them when he walks in. They're still looking a bit drowsy, but otherwise fine. Tsuna tries to keep his back to the wall, keeping at a distance.

''Tsuna! We were just talking about the basement thing.'' Yamamoto fills him in. Gokudera scowls, grumbling about Yamamoto stealing his words.

''I don't remember there being basement when we got this house!'' Tsuna hears his mom exclaim. ''This is so exciting, isn't it, Tsu-kun?'' She giggles.

''Haha...yeah... It's under the backyard, and it's really hidden. Reborn's still using it right now.'' Tsuna turns his eyes back to where he came from, not quite turning his head. Nana turns to look outside as well, and gasps into her hand.

''Oh dear— That late already? I still haven't started dinner! And the kids should be coming back soon!'' Before she marches into the kitchen as if a soldier into war, she asks if Tsuna's friends will stay for dinner. They agree, and she continues with more cheer, somehow happier that there are more mouths to feed.

''So...Tenth...'' Ah. This is going to be hard.

They're both looking at him eagerly, albeit a little confused and still drowsy from the drugs. Tsuna  _really_  doesn't want to break the news that he kind of almost got decapitated in front of them in their sleep!

Tsuna, sheepish, reaches to rub at his neck. Predictably, he regrets it and hisses at the sting.  _Way to go, Tsuna!_

''Tsuna?'' Yamamoto stands up. ''Are you—''

'' _Please don't freak out.''_ Tsuna says in a rush. ''There was, uhm. Someone drugged you two, and mom.'' He waves his hands, laughing. ''Reborn stopped him before he could do anything, really! They're both in the basement right now.''

''Hey, Tsuna,'' Yamamoto says again, in a casual, easy-going voice, looking everything but. ''What's that on your collar?''

Oh yeah. He kind of bled all over his neck, didn't he?

Tsuna stays silent, then takes a quick glance at Gokudera, but met his eyes. He shouldn't feel like he's about to slaughter a trapped puppy.  _He's_ the one almost murdered, here!

''...Please tell us what happened, Tenth.''

Tsuna swallows, and closes his eyes.

He can't deal with this. He doesn't know how to say anything right. He can't find it in himself to blame them either. Because he knows, he'd be just the same if this happened to them, and he was there and didn't do anything.

Maybe he could...

''...Come here.'' Tsuna calls them over, keeping his voice somewhat casual, while he sits down, slouching forward. He wishes Reborn was here, because that guy would know just what to say. He hopes this will do. Reborn would have just laid everything out there, right?

''There was an assassin. He drugged you guys. Everyone else was out elsewhere.''

Their faces turn pale.

''He  _only_  got this far.'' He points a finger at the back of his neck, covered by gauze and plasters. ''I'm still here. See? He... failed.''

Yamamoto and Gokudera stare at his neck, saying nothing, making Tsuna kind of uncomfortable. He searches himself for more words, something...

''He failed.'' Tsuna repeats. ''You two didn't.''

-o-o-o-

''Such a thing...''

''...''

''There's something you're not telling.''

Clarenzio grins.

''That's something... for you to find out.'' He rolls his tongue in his mouth, makes a crunching sound, and swallows before Reborn could force his mouth back open.  _Too late._  He mouths.

He then laughs, and gargles, choking on froth, and Reborn steps back, Leon rope in tow. He watches him continue to spasm, falling out of the chair in choked laughter, getting softer and softer by the second, then silent, limbs still twitching. Then that stops, too.

He'll deal with that after dinner. Right now...

Leon turns into goo, and forms into a cell phone. Reborn pushes a button, then holds it to his ear. He waits, in the stuffy, dust-filled grey basement, gazing at a unmoving body all laid out in odd angles that's only  _vaguely_  maybe slightly disturbing to him, listening to the dial. It connects.

''Ciaossu, Ninth.''

-o-o-o-

The kids make it back in time for dinner, while Bianchi might still be gathering ingredients. Good that she's not already back and cooking, but the longer she stays out, the more dangerous ingredients she could be getting. That's something, Tsuna guesses, he should worry about later. It's dinner now.

''西蘭花妖怪， 別在偷吃！''

''It's mine! It's all mine! HAHAHAH'' Lambo continues grabbing pieces of food from plates that aren't his. Must be lucky, being five- no,  _seven_  now. Fuuta makes a distressed whine when his get taken too, and Nana places more back on his plate, chuckling.

Yamamoto had called and informed his dad, who says they'll treat sushi tomorrow in return. Yamamoto looks mostly back to his usual self now, and plays along with Lambo's antics. He even had a little spoon fight with him on the table.

He's still snatching glances at the back of Tsuna's stick thin neck, which was covered with the hood of his jacket. Tsuna tried his best to look as alive and fine as possible.

Gokudera hasn't scowled for the past ten minutes. He's just eating. Quietly.

Tsuna found himself wishing Gokudera would just... get mad again. Lambo's doing a pretty decent job, though, and its nothing short of amazing. All it took was one slow, sticky, gross, hard poke on Gokudera's right cheek, and about 5 minutes of annoying monologue on an incredibly irritating volume that Gokudera's trying  _all_  he can to reign in his rage before Tsuna's mother. He curses, inaudible strings of sharp, knife-y words under his breath, and Tsuna lets out a sigh of relief.

Reborn joins in mid dinner, Nana serving up a plate for him. Tsuna finds the rest of his meal gone in an instant.

''Reborn! That's mine!''

Reborn smiles at him. An evil, ominous smile, one that only promises impending losses and suffering for Tsuna. In a blink, the food on his plate disappears, and Reborn wipes at his mouth with a tiny white napkin. Nana scolds Tsuna for being petty.

The dinner goes by as it usually does, and Tsuna manages to survive through it. Gokudera was about to help with the dishes, until Lambo jumped in, dirty feet and sticky hands right on to Gokudera's face, and distracted him while Yamamoto help finish the dishes. That's one disaster avoided, thanks to Lambo.

When the time came for them to leave, Tsuna had sent them off by the door, and asked them to stay safe. There might be more assassins around, sneaking about, and it's 9pm. And things tend to happen in times like that.

''We'll be fine, Tsuna. I'm feeling more awake than ever, actually!''

''I'll be here first thing in the morning, Tenth!''

Once that was all done and finished, shower taken (while carefully avoiding the bandage on his neck, which made it hard to wash his hair right), and teeth brushed, Tsuna sits down on his bed. Its been a long, tiring day, and Tsuna just wants to flop down, back first on to his bed.

But.

''What's wrong, Tsuna?'' Reborn asks from his hammock, when Tsuna had stayed sitting, staring at his wall and biting at his lips, for too long a while. ''Forgot your homework?''

''No! That's d-done!'' It's not. ''I just... I'm not sure how to sleep with... this.'' Tsuna lifts up a finger to vaguely point in the direction of his neck.

Tsuna could try to sleep on his stomach, but he's never really fallen asleep well with that position. He'll have had to turn his head to the side to breath, anyway. He can't just sleep on his back and bleed all over his pillow if the cut breaks up, either. He's slept on worse cuts, but this one...

''Geez, no-good Tsuna. It's not even that deep.'' Reborn jumps out of his hammock, a first aid box in tow. ''Can't even sleep on a little papercut like that?''

''I just— I mean...''

''You'll have blood over a lot more things than just pillows, Tsuna.''

''No I'm not! That's not happening! Tssct-'' Reborn pulled off the bandage and gauze. The cut has stopped bleeding by now, but there's still a chance of it opening back up, even with Tsuna's abnormally fast healing. It wont be as much a trouble as Tsuna thinks it to be, though. ''Not, not happening.''

''The assassin's dead in the basement.''

''Dead— He's,'' Tsuna tenses up, but doesn't turn around, because Reborn was holding his head in place. If he didn't, Tsuna would have turned to look at him, and opened the stupid cut. '' you, you actually...'' Tsuna accuses, barely a whisper.

''He held poison capsules in his mouth, and swallowed it on his own. Don't jump to conclusions.'' Reborn lets go of Tsuna's head to put on a new piece of gauze and plasters.

Before Tsuna could apologise, Reborn continues, ''The Vongola corpse disposal team will be here in a few hours. Wanna meet them?''

''C-corpse disposal team?'' Tsuna squeaks.

''Smaltimento squadra di cadavere in Italian.''

Tsuna grabs at his hair in exasperation. He sighs, choking on it when Reborn flicked a harsh finger on the fresh bandage.

Tsuna has had a lot of sleep in the earlier half of the day, and had been quite well rested after school, but the evening events had drained his energy more than Reborn's Italian Language cram sessions could. Reborn jumps back on to his hammock. Tsuna eyes at his pillow, grumbles under his breath, then lies on his back, putting his head on his pillow gingerly. The cut stings a little, but its heaps less than what he expected.

''...So... Where were you this morning?'' Tsuna asks, after setting his alarm.

Reborn had been called to Italy, for a meeting with the Ninth; regarding the inevitable assassination attacks soon to befall Tsuna. After some discussion, they had agreed to wait for Tsuna to get attacked, while their people hide to catch the culprits, and of course, stop them before they got too far. The reason why they were so sure it was the same group for all three deaths were because they always left a damned emblem not far from the body. The Vongola could never catch hold of them, slippery bastards.

Not that they needed to wait with hiding forces with Tsuna bait now, now that they slipped up themselves.

Not that Tsuna needs to know about all that, either. So Reborn answers his question with his signature snoring.

Tsuna sighs at him, and goes back to staring at his ceiling. He's really starting to feel the fatigue of the day catching up with him now, dragging him into sleep.

Before he shuts his eyes completely, Tsuna picks up the light blue charm Kyoko-chan gave him before the sky-battle.

 _Safety and Absolute-Victory!_  Written with small, neat and cute stitches on the cloth. His namesake as a small orange cartoony fish, right in the middle of the charm. Tsuna holds it a little tighter in his palm, a little closer towards his heart, letting his breathing even out and slow.

And closes his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Assassins sure are a pain in the neck right guys yeah hmm eh yea? ?


	4. Them

**-Thursday-**

Two days had passed, since then.

The morning after that night, Gokudera showed up in front of Tsuna's door first thing in the morning as he promised. Tsuna's cut has mostly healed up over the night, and he had spent most of the morning scratching at the dried up blood and dead skin. Until he pulled at one still healing, and started bleeding again- till Gokudera appeared right by his side and stuck on a skull-and-bones patterned bandaid. (Tsuna didn't know till Yamamoto mentioned it.) Which was weird, because Gokudera never used decorative bandages.

Gokudera had explained.  _''I... save those for special occasions, Tenth.''_  Okay.

The history homework was due that day too, and Tsuna didn't manage to finish it before that class started. The teacher took a look at him, and shook her head, not even bothering to scold him. Tsuna had a pretty valid reason for not doing his homework for once, but he doubts his teacher would believe him when he says something like 'an  _assassin_  was here for me, so I couldn't do my homework'.

Speaking of the assassin, Clarenzio, Reborn said that the basement is clean of any dead now, when Tsuna was still preparing for school. He didn't wake Tsuna up in ungodly hours to meet the... corpse disposal team, so that's good. Reborn had mused, loud and clear, that he should turn that basement into a proper, fully functional interrogation room, with all the wonderful equipment that could make anyone talk what they shouldn't... shouldn't he, Tsuna? Wouldn't it be wonderful? Right?

Tsuna's living with a demon. A small, baby hitman sadistic evil demon barely taller than his knee, who's making him into a mafia boss. And making him read Italian books he can only barely understand. Italian books with... questionable topics, now that Tsuna can understand some of its words after referencing the dictionary and Reborn.

Tsuna has been reading the same paragraph over and over for a long while now. Evidently much too long, because Yamamoto was poking at him.

''Still working on that book?'' Yamamoto asks, after Tsuna knocked his head backwards to rest on the reinforced rooftop fence, away from the book. Gokudera sips on a carton of apple juice.

Right now, they're all on the rooftop for lunch. Yamamoto sitting to his left, Shigure Kintoki leaning on one shoulder. Gokudera was on Tsuna's right. Ryohei was here too, already done with his lunch and just feeling the winter air. Tsuna's not sure why they're all up here, really. It's really cold out, but at least there's virtually no one else up here.

Tsuna brings out a highlighter, and highlights half the paragraph he went on circles with earlier. ''Yeah,'' He answers Yamamoto. ''I don't understand  _anything_  in this!'' Tsuna groans, and buries his head into the book.

''Tsuna...''

''...Ma,'' Gokudera says, putting down his apple juice, and out of nowhere, '' vedo del highlighter pagine sempre meno. Decimo, si sta migliorando!'' he gives a shaky smile, and gives Tsuna a thumbs up.

''Eh, whoa!'' Tsuna exclaims. ''Gokudera, that sounds amazing! You sound really cool! I... uhm, don't understand much though. Highlighted pages?'' Gokudera beams in return, and explains its translation.

''I don't understand anything, haha!'' Yamamoto adds, while Ryohei says the same, more passionately. ''But that really was cool, Gokudera!''

''Hmph. As the Tenth's right hand, its only natural that I sound cool in any language!''

''Well that means I have to learn it too, right, Tsuna?  _I'm_  your right hand.'' Yamamoto grins. Tsuna gulps, and hides his face in his book. Fierce sparks are flying where Gokudera and Yamamoto's eyes meet, and Ryohei wasn't helping. The bell rings, and Tsuna almost let out a cheer.

''G-guys, lets go!''

-o-o-o-

''So. To my place?''

Schools over, and they'll be going to Yamamoto's house today. To do some homework, and maybe buy some sushi home.

At least, that was what they planned to. Because two people dressed in black clothes, face and hands covered, just jumped out from the bushes a few feet behind the trio, wielding swords. Not quite like ninjas but more... Honestly they just looked like average civilians that only wears the same shade all over and. Have swords. Wielded quite professionally.

Tsuna gets a sudden hunch that those gleaming, shiny blades fully intend get  _real_  close and personal with his neck.

Tsuna just wants to start bolting far, far away from those two, but Yamamoto already has his Shigure Kintoki out and transformed, steaming, and Gokudera holding fists full of dynamite, cigarette lit between his teeth. They pushed Tsuna behind them, standing side by side in front of him, facing the attackers.  _They want to fight?_

''You- you guys,wait-''

''Leave it to us, Tsuna.''

Looking at their backs, he's reminded, with a start, of the time where they did the same before him in the sky battle against the Varia.

Tsuna gulps.

Except this time, they are both much less battered and bruised and much more  _angry._ Gokudera's scowl was the deepest Tsuna's ever seen and Yamamoto had a big, tight smile on his face, brows furrowed, looking somehow even scarier than Gokudera.

The attackers took a moment to evaluate the two, then, shifting their grips on the swords, moved.

-o-o-o-

Tsuna really can't live like this.

''Two,  _two_ times I got attacked this week. In my own house, in the streets, I can't- I can't live like this!''

''Yeah, you'd die if you're killed.''

''That's  _not_  what I meant—''

''Hold on to this.''

''You just took that out of her mouth. Ew, no don't— don't put it— ...in my hand, you. At  _least_  get a napkin!''

''Then go get one.'' Discussion over.

Tsuna heads back out the basement to get a napkin, though not without grumbling. Why's he got to get one from the kitchen when Reborn has a endless storage of miscellaneous items in his little suit?

The two had won the fight against the attackers, Yamamoto knocking out one with the back of his sword, while Gokudera attacked the other relentlessly with mini rocket bombs, then punched their lights out with his fist. The fight couldn't really be called easy, dragging on for nearly half an hour, but Tsuna's friends were fighting with their all. And with Old Powerful Rings on fire. The outcome was quite clear.

They helped carry the unconscious attackers to Tsuna's Basement, prompted by Reborn, who appeared right when Yamamoto and Gokudera was done catching their breaths. Then the two returned to their respective homes, confident that Reborn's presence would keep any other assassins away.

What Tsuna doesn't know, was how close Yamamoto had been to using the sharp end of the blade on that last strike, and how Gokudera had regretted not bringing any stronger bombs with him.

Tsuna picks a napkin off the kitchen counter, and wraps the poison capsules, tiny, purple and plastic things, that Reborn picked right out of the attackers' mouths, in it. He washes the icky saliva off his hands with the kitchen sink, still grumbling.

Well... hopefully this means there wont be more dead assassins in the basement.

The assassins this time seems to be part of the same group as the previous one, since they both had the same, orderly line of scars etched over the entirety of their face. The female assassin was bald, and the lines went all the way over her head, parting by the neck, a continuous line to the chin. The other guy's scar lines stopped at the ends of the face, but he had overlaying horizontal and vertical scars crisscrossing each other, like a grid pattern, or a bad accident at a barbecue party.

What is  _wrong_  with these people?

Reborn had said that he'll be interrogating the two and see if their answers match up with the previous one. He still hasn't told Tsuna what Clarenzio said, though.

Watching Reborn interrogate two assassins sounded more of a chore than doing... homework, so Tsuna heads back up stairs with the poison capsules in his hand.

He guesses he'll hear about it later.

-o-o-o-

Reborn walks back in the house around 6pm, to find Tsuna playing a racing game with Lambo. Tsuna's almost winning, and Lambo looks close to tears. The sky outside the window turning orange, but the room inside was mostly covered in florescent lighting, and the glaring blue-ish light from the small TV. Tsuna notices Reborn in the room, and says they'll be done in just a minute, then returns to the game.

''Two dead assassins in the basement, Tsuna.''

Tsuna's virtual car swerves and crashes on the barriers, the jittery sound of exaggerated explosions filling up the space. Lambo, still fully engrossed in the game, cheers, then shrieks, when Reborn kicked him out of Tsuna's room.

Tsuna blinks at the screen for a moment, then swallows and turns to looks at Reborn, shoulders hunched up, waiting for him to explain.

Best to just let him get used to it.

''One bit off her tongue and drowned in her blood, I shot the other one before he could try.'' Reborn relays, putting his hands in his pockets, meeting Tsuna's widening, amber eyes. ''Either they're that loyal or they couldn't go back.''

Two people just  _died_ , under his house.

Two people just- Tsuna puts down the game controller, and rubs at his face with his hand, and lets out a breath. If they were going to do it no matter what, then the poison...

''S- something like that...'' He cups his mouth with his palm, shuddering. ''They just... _just like that_...''

''Get used to it.''

_What?_

''That's not- That's not something you can  _get used_  to!'' Tsuna shouts, hands clenched into fists, shoulders tense.

Reborn smiles at him.

''Well, go get Yamamoto, Gokudera and Ryohei over.''

''Uh- n-now? But...''

''They won't mind. That Gokudera's been camping outside for the past 3 hours.'' Reborn looks out the window, and Tsuna follows his gaze, dreading. And as Reborn had said, Gokudera was there, crouching outside of Tsuna's house looking as fierce and dangerous as ever. A lit cigarette in his mouth, snarling at anyone walking past.

''But... why? Why gather everyone?'' Tsuna asks, turning his head back to face Reborn.

''I'm going to explain the situation fully, since this is a matter that concerns you, in extension your Guardians. I don't want to repeat it one by one.'' Reborn pulls a mug of espresso out of thin air, and takes a sip. ''The corpse disposal team is on its way too, they should be here in an hour. You're going to meet them.'' End of discussion.

At the mention of the dead assassins in the basement, Tsuna freezes up again, and stares at the floor, biting at his lips. His grip on the window tightens when he gave a glance to the backyard, where the basement was. Where three people died.

A evening breeze settles in the room through the window, letting the scent of coffee flow the room. Tsuna lets out a breath.

Quietly, with shaking hands, he pushes himself away from the window and heads out the room.

''...I'll go call the rest.''

-o-o-o-

It wasn't hard to get everyone over to his house. Ryohei didn't mind, and agreed to stay over for dinner. Yamamoto was in the midst of helping out his dad with the restaurant when he answered the call, so Tsuna insisted he stay and that he'll fill him in tomorrow, but Reborn snatched the phone and said something along the lines of 'duty as a Vongola Guardian', then passed it back to him, saying that Yamamoto's on his way. What a  _jerk_.

''It's fine, Tsuna! My old man likes it when I hang out with you guys.'' Yamamoto assured Tsuna when he arrived, hanging an arm over Tsuna's shoulders. ''I wont be staying for dinner, though.''

Nana didn't mind the sudden crowd, but scolded Tsuna, with her hands on her hips, for not letting her know earlier so she could prepare the extra dinner portions in time. She then passed a tray carrying glasses of iced tea for Tsuna to bring up to his room. Ryohei took a glass with thanks, while Gokudera and Yamamoto left theirs alone even after Reborn double-checked. Lambo and Ipin is playing downstairs, Bianchi helping Fuuta out with his homework.

''Well now that you're all here...''

''Wait- kid, what about Hibari and that gloomy, quiet girl... Chrome?'' Yamamoto interrupts. ''I thought it's a Vongola Guardian thing?''

''Chrome is already here.''

''Eh?'' They collectively whip their heads around the room, not seeing any gloomy quiet purple-haired eye-patch wearing girl.

''...Boss, over here... ''

''C-Chrome! Hey!'' Tsuna finally spots her, holding a trident to her chest and standing by the corner of his bed, barely having any presence in the room. She doesn't seem bothered that everyone missed her location; in fact, a small, tiny smile was on her face. ''I haven't seen you in a long while since, wow, a month or so? How have you been? Does mom know you're here?'' Tsuna moves to get up from the floor. ''Do you want something to drink?''

''... ...No... ''

''And as for Hibari, Tsuna will tell him himself. Right, Tsuna?''

''Wha- no! I'm not!''

''Anyways, now that you're all here,'' Reborn continues over Tsuna's complaints, ''Here's the current situation.'' He takes a slow sip of espresso, then crosses his arms.

''Tsuna's being targeted by an Assassin group that took out the previous Vongola Heirs; Enrico, who was shot in a gunfight, Massimo, who was drowned, and Federico, who only had his bones left.''

The boys blinks at the sudden serious atmosphere, but nod and listen. Tsuna gulps.

''They've attacked Tsuna twice now, once two days ago, who I've interrogated but had killed themselves with poison before saying anything more.''

''The second one happened just earlier today, who I've also interrogated. Their answers match up.'' Reborn takes another sip. ''They're dead too.''

''From what they said, the group had formed in Vongola Settimo, the Seventh's era. They have been killing family heirs since then, mafia and non-mafia, sometimes just after they are named, sometimes just before coronation. They don't call themselves anything, have no base or emblem, and they never leave enough tracks to be caught. In fact, no one else knows of their existence.

''They did lay claim on the assassinations of the late Vongola heirs, when they left emblems near their bodies. They haven't sought credit for their assassinations till then. There's no saying why they suddenly decided to just slip up, but I have a hunch that its because they just feel like it.

''It's either pure luck that you've survived till now and manage to subdue them, or they were doing this on purpose. They've never failed a mission, or ever gave up on one. You bunch likely wont be getting any peace anytime soon.''

Everyone had been listening silently then, nodding once a while and humming to show they were listening. Reborn took a long drink from his espresso to let what he said sink in a little before he continues.

''...Why,'' Tsuna asks, face pale, voice dry, staring at the floor. '' why would they... do things like that?''

''Fun... was what they said. Successors are a good challenge to get to. But I have another feeling that there's much more behind all this.''

A loud knock on the window, and every one sans Reborn and Chrome jumps. A bunch of babies, honestly.

''Looks like they're here. Go on and greet them, Tsuna.''

''They...? Oh—  _them_ ,'' Tsuna gulps, licking his lips. ''Do I really have to..?'' Reborn's eyes gleam under his hat, and Tsuna eeps, then scrambles out the door in a rush.

Reborn takes another sip of espresso, then clears his throat. This is something Tsuna doesn't need to hear.

''The three I've questioned have stated how they planned for Tsuna to die. I'm sure both of you noticed how they aimed for Tsuna's neck.''

Yamamoto and Gokudera nod, face grim.  _They almost got there._ Tsuna had done his best to reassure them, but that was too close- and neither one of them wants something like that to ever get  _that_  close again. Ryohei doesn't quite understand anything, but keeps quiet and occupies himself with his glass of tea. Chrome listens, acting as someone else's ears.

To be more specific, they wanted to take his head with them and let him be buried headless. It's a detail they don't need to know.

''They intend for that to only happen with his Guardians around him.'' Reborn looks at each of them in the eyes. ''I'm sure all of you understand what that means.''

A beat.

Yamamoto's hand tighten around the Shigure Kintoki, his frown deepening, brown eyes sharp. Gokudera spits out strings of curses, face covered by his hair and fist clenched white.

He takes in a deep breath.

''I'm understand, Reborn-san... but,'' Gokudera stands up. ''I'm not going to leave the Tenth's side under any circumstances!''

As guardians, it is their duty to protect the Family, and their boss. If distance means safety, they should keep at the distance. But they are also, Tsuna's  _friends_. Distance can go take a trip around the world, who gives a shit.

Yamamoto grins. ''Yeah! Believe in us, kiddo.''

''I don't really get much, but Sawada's in danger, right? Leave it to me!'' Ryohei pipes up, face beaming. ''I'll extremely beat up all the enemies!'' He punches his palm with a strong thud, promising.

Reborn turns to Chrome, who held the trident a little closer to her chest, silent. Then she gave a slow, small but sure, nod.

Reborn pulls down the brim of his hat, hiding his eyes but not hiding his smile. Very good. ''Well, don't get too pumped up. The assassin group only has five members, and one boss.''

''Huh? Just- just five?''

''Two, now that three is dead.'' Reborn finishes his espresso. Footsteps could be heard from outside, approaching. Gokudera sits back down, and busies himself with a glass of lukewarm tea.

''Welcome back, Tsuna. How was it?''

''Reborn! She can't speak Japanese! Why did you make me greet them when they  _can't speak_   _Japanese?_ ''

''But you still got through, no?''

''She- she kept laughing at me!''

''With Italian at your level, anyone would laugh at you.'' The head of the corpse disposal team was known as a hardass and hardly ever laughed. Tsuna's done an incredible feat, here. ''Is dinner ready?''

''Eh, uhm. Y-yeah. Its ready, come on down.''

''Oh- I'll get going then, Tsuna. Take care!'' Yamamoto stands up, shrugging the Shigure Kintoki over his shoulder. He hangs one arm over Tsuna's, pulling him close, and laughs.

''Heeey, don't look so serious! It's still just a game, so take it easy, 'kay?''

Yamamoto lets out more laughs at the exasperated face Tsuna makes at him, and Tsuna sighs and laughs along, a bit shaky. Gokudera grits at his teeth, snarling.

''Alright! I'm extremely ready for dinner! What's for dinner, Sawada?''

-o-o-o-

Dinner is looking great. It's as big a spread as always, gorgeous, lovingly prepared, and steaming on the table. But...

''Got no appetite?''

'' _Duh_!'' There's a team specialized in corpse disposal just outside, cloaked in illusion, pulling dead, bloody bodies out of a basement, and Tsuna was just told about the assassin groups gruesome history and purposes, and him probably not having peace for maybe the rest of his life;  _of course he's not going to have any appetite!_

Tsuna sighs and hung his head, the hand holding his chopsticks laid slack on the table. No point trying to protect his food from Reborn if he doesn't feel like eating any.

''Tenth...'' Gokudera had been picking at his plate as well, but got more bites in, even with Lambo bothering him. Ryohei's eating his fill enthusiastically, and rambles in between mouth fulls about boxing to Fuuta, who's making notes for new rankings to try out. Bianchi works on her plate with all the elegance of a hitwoman wearing a squirrel face mask over her eyes.

Chrome didn't follow them down for dinner, and wasn't in Tsuna room when he went back to check. She just... disappeared. Is she doing okay?

Tsuna hears the muffled sound of a van driving away. So  _that's_  done. Reborn snatches the food off his plate and bowls clean, and Tsuna's feeling grateful about that, for once.

''So, how's school, Tsu-kun?''

''School? Well... no-not that different from the usual...'' His life, on the other hand. His life is a  _mess_. Nana picks up the empty plates and walks back to the sink.

''It's already December, my, how fast time passes~ Have any plans for the winter break?'' Nana asks, scrubbing at the dishes, letting Bianchi who's done with her dinner help out. ''Wanna go to the zoo with your dear mom?'' She coos, waving a soapy yellow sponge.

''The zoo? In winter?''

''Zoos are still open in winter, right? Well, that's just the first thing I thought of... We haven't gone on a mother-son trip for so long, you know?''

''Eh, I guess...'' Tsuna hopes he'll live long enough for that.

''Thanks for the meal, Nana-san.'' Gokudera says, after Lambo was done wolfing down what he couldn't finish.

''It's the most extreme dinner!''

''Oh my, oh my!'' Nana beams with a wide smile, clapping her hands by her face. ''Come visit again anytime, okay?''

Once everything was done and cleaned, Tsuna and his mom, along with the rest of the leechers of the house, sent Gokudera and Ryohei off at the door.

Tsuna spent the rest of the night trying to finish his homework at gunpoint, and after he was done, Reborn shoved a new Italian book in his hands, a thin, brown paperback book with a small illustration of a rabbit on the cover, and told him to read it till he sleeps. So he's now staring at the  _pagine_  with bleary eyes, one hand twirling a highlighter. Reborn was lying on his hammock, tiny arms behind his head and one leg crossed over the other, the light shaking making his hammock creak.

''...The Ninth sent a letter.''

Tsuna hums in response. Then he registers it fully, and puts down the book and highlighter, turning to where Reborn lies on his hammock.

''The Ninth did? What did he say?''

''... ...''

''Don't sleep—''

''He wants you to wipe out the rest of them.''

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a review if you like! or if you dont! let me know what you think about this fic so far?


	5. Mess

**-Wednesday, December 17th -**

**-6 days later-**

"That Sawada's been weird lately, don't you think?"

"No-good Tsuna? Weird?"

"Super weird! Like, weirder than usual! I think he pissed off H-Hibari or something. Crap, he's looking at us! Let's go before Hibari finds him! Eek!"

_What._

Tsuna's didn't piss off Hibari, and he's definitely not acting weird, okay? Its just that. He may be a little... more paranoid than usual. It's. It's not that bad.

Tsuna blinks blearily at the retreating, snickering figures of his classmates, and lets out a grumble. He shoves a hand on the locker handle and bites back a long-suffering sigh at the state of his life.

It's just that...

It's just that there's more Assassins out to get his head and who knows just how  _many_  there are out there. And the Ninth wants  _him, a fifteen year old middle schooler,_  to. Wipe. Them. Out. And those heir killing assassins haven't actually done anything in the past week, which made him stuck in a state of low panic for the past week, constantly looking over his shoulder, nerves strung out every day, not knowing when they'll attack again, where they are, and he told Hibari about them and yeah. He's pissed at him.

Hibari is going to kill him.

"Hey, don't listen to them, Tsuna." Yamamoto says, clearing his locker from a waterfall of love letters. "Anyways, we'll definitely get them when they come. There's only two left, right?"

"T-two? Really?"

"Yeah, the kiddo said so, last week, I think." Reborn didn't tell him that. He just left him in the dark and let him wallow in paranoia- he's-

"In the mafia world, paranoia keeps you alive, stupid Tsuna." He's in his locker.

What is Reborn doing in his shoe locker, both hands on his chubby cheeks, looking all cute and being an insufferable demon of a home tutor?

"Shut up! I'm not in your stupid mafia!"

Tsuna has half the mind to just  _slam_  the locker door on his face, but he still needs to get his shoes, and he still wants to live. So he just... shouts at Reborn instead.

"Well, my winter minions have news." Reborn ignores Tsuna's shouts, and continues talking with his little squeaky baby voice. He has bug minions for the winter? "They saw two outsiders camping near the outskirts of Namimori yesterday."

"Outsiders?" Tsuna blinks. "What's so bad about outsiders?"

"They've got the scars. Be prepared, Tsuna."

The scars?

"Eh- scars... prepare, you mean—"

"I'm completely ready and prepared, Tenth!"

"G-Gokudera-kun!" So then it really, really means-

"He means those assassins, right? Finally!" Yamamoto cheers, and smacks his locker closed, shrugging onto his shoulder the carrier that holds his Shigure Kintoki. Tsuna hasn't seen him bringing around his bat in a while.

"You know what to do, right, Tsuna?" Reborn layers his small arms down in a cross, and rests his squishy chin on it, still squeezed inside Tsuna's locker.

_Wipe them out_

When Reborn had said that to him the week ago, before they went to sleep, Tsuna had reacted with blank staring. And denial.

_"What... what does that..."_

_"It means exactly what you don't want it to be." Reborn says, still looking straight ahead, away from Tsuna. Leon is unmoving, silent as ever, above his stomach with his eyes closed. "They're already three members down."_

_"But..._ _t_ _he Ninth..."_

_"What do you think?"_

_Tsuna frowns slightly, and lies back on his bed. Staring at the ceiling._

_"It doesn't... it doesn't seem like what the Ninth would... want." Tsuna mumbles, remembering his old, crinkled brown eyes. His 'grandpa' playing with him by the backyard, bringing new treats whenever he visited. The flickering warm flame on his finger, how he spoke with such kindness even when he was nearing death, drained of his life force, tossed on the floor, broken with Tsuna's own two hands._

_"I guess?" He still kind of ruined Tsuna's life._

_"Good guess."_

_Reborn turned to him then, and Leon shifted a little on his stomach._

_"The Ninth is one of the most merciful Mafia Bosses I've known, even through Secondo's bloodline." His little eyebrows set into a frown, and his mouth straightens out. "But I don't know if his mercy can even reach to assassins that killed his sons."_

_Tsuna stared at Reborn again. He then lets out a frustrated sigh, and covered his eyes with the smooth pages of the book. It smells new._

_Reborn doesn't say anything more, and Tsuna hears a small rustle of cloth, along with a light creak of the hammock._

_...Tsuna's never really thought about it before, but its only now that he realized. It is those assassins fault that he's in this position. If they just left the Ninth's sons alone, he wouldn't have to make Tsuna heir, and he wouldn't have had to send Reborn over to make Tsuna's life a living hell. But... if Reborn was never here..._

_He'd be alone._

_Tsuna felt like a huge mess inside then, because he had felt grateful for Reborn, which means he felt grateful that those three that died, which is a horrible thought to have, so he got angry at himself for having thoughts like that. And he's still feeling sad over them, and for the Ninth, and starting to get overwhelmed at the thought that he actually has_ _**friends** _ _now. That Reborn had flipped his whole way of living over, vaulting, and threw it away, that his life and his friends are going to be in constant danger from now on, that they're only ever getting deeper into the mafia-_

_Tsuna lifted the book up and wipes his eyes with his arm sleeve, just, what the heck. It's getting late. And Reborn's already asleep._

Anyway.

Yamamoto's got that weird, sharp look in his eyes again. But he shook it away and beamed, looking like he just thought of a great idea on how to spend the evening while they wait for assassins.

"Hey, wanna go to the arcade today?"

-o-o-o-

At least this time, they let them have their fun before trying to kill him.

They were just done with having a quick, warm dinner out after spending hours at the arcade, Yamamoto absolutely wrecking the place with his good reflexes and even gooder luck. He then gave his loot away to the kids that were there, because he's nice like that. And then they walked, in the setting light, out of the shopping districts to return to their homes. Chatting the time away, laughter and grumbles and small comments, each breath a frosty white puff in the cold weather. And Tsuna could  _finally_  take his mind of the assassins for a moment.

A nice moment, while it lasted.

Tsuna's tossed to the ground, bag falling along with him and spilling, and his heart starts to accelerate. He watches as Gokudera and Yamamoto fend off against the two outsiders- assassins, who were absolutely  _not_  simple foreigners looking for directions. Getting his head almost sliced off is a good enough sign.

They're- They're fighting in a bad place, on the bridge over a small, deep-running river, flowing slow and cold and definitely not going to be fun to fall into. His friends are going to be at a disadvantage, since the other two are jumping around the fences like master gymnasts with, again, big shiny scary swords. Jumping around even when the railing was slippery with light snow. Tsuna could see that they're both at whole other level than the previous attackers and his friends are  _in danger!_

Tsuna's hand shifts, and he nudges something that rolls, with tiny clacking sounds, these-

The dying will pills!

Tsuna was already wearing his mittens, because of the cold weather. All he needs, all he needs now is to take the pills.

Tsuna shakes out two pills from the canister in a hurry, snatching glances at his friends still in battle, and holds it in his open palm.

Should he?

He swallows down the two tasteless small pills, feel them go down his throat, and his heart stop.

_I have to help them_

And his heart beats again, blood thrumming in his veins. A bright orange flame sparks and flares from his forehead, soft wool mittens melting into black leather and metal, fitting and heavy around his hands.

"Tenth!"

"Tsuna- wait, leave this to us!"

With a burst of flames, Tsuna flies in the midst of battle, and sends a speeding, flame boosted fist into the gut of the one nearest to him, then following the momentum, swings his leg towards the other one— missed, and dodges the incoming blade, crouching, and springs backwards to stand on the fence.

The one still standing keeps their back to the opposite railing, raises his sword up in defence, watching. Gokudera moves to make sure the one catching their breath stays down, but get his legs swept beneath him, and Tsuna punches their blade with a burning fist before it could pierce through Gokudera, Yamamoto keeping the one still watching distracted, and Tsuna's feet is grabbed-

And he's pulled, by their weight, over the bridge and falling into the river, flames not enough to keep both of them in the air.

They drop quite far down the river with a big splash, and it's difficult to see which way's the right way up, since there's not much light and the water's murky, but there's a glow, where his hands are.

Actually, just flames. Flames where his hands are, burning and glowing.

Under the water.

The hand on his feet pulls him down harshly, and Tsuna could see the face of the one who grabbed him, scars jagged in a pattern like lightning strikes, looking severely disappointed that his flames still burn. Air bubbles leak out from her mouth, and she makes a rush upwards, pushing Tsuna down further.

He's running out of air too, so he shoots up, following her direction with a burst of flames.

Gasping, he breaks the surface, and blinks the water out of his eyes. He sees Yamamoto still clashing swords with the other one, while Gokudera shouts when he spots Tsuna back at the surface alive, relieved.

"Tenth— Behind!"

Tsuna anticipated her moving, but couldn't fly out in time, and he's grabbed by the head and pushed back down the water, and an arm hung around his neck, tightening, but not that threatening. Through the shifting water, Tsuna hears the one on the bridge shout.

" ' _Chesca! Don't choke him to death!"_

Tsuna grabs at the arm with his gloves. Kicking at the waters.

" _I know— ghurhg, blugh, not trying to! Not like he'll die from, blegh heghk, something like-"_

Tsuna didn't want to, but he brings out his flames, and grips the arm tight with his scorching gloves. She lets out a choked scream, but tightens her grip even more with her other arm, enough strength to make Tsuna breathing only a little tighter.

But with the water splashing and her rough shaking, Tsuna chokes on the river water. He's definitely not getting enough air, and the water's getting into his lungs too.

His grip starts to weaken.

Yamamoto is still struggling in his fight, especially when trying to keep Gokudera from jumping in, both of them snatching glances at Tsuna's location, shouting worries. The other one's slashing at their legs now, and its taking all they can to defend themselves and not try to jump in the river to help Tsuna, because they'll definitely get slashed that way.

Tsuna pulls at the arms, digging into the burns, pushing back with all the strength he can summon. He got his friends into this mess, and he's going to get them back out  _alive_.

_No matter what it takes._

She finally lets go, cursing, and Tsuna flies out of the water coughing, hacking, and with a new burst of strength, flies behind the one on the bridge, giving a swift, hard hit to the back of his neck before he could blink, ending the fight.

Its over.

The three of them take a moment on the bridge to catch their breaths, Tsuna heaving in big gulps of air, coughing once a while, wiping at his mouth with a forearm. He gives Yamamoto and Gokudera a look-over.

They're covered in little red oozing cuts and bruises, hair sticking up everywhere, slouching, tired out from the fight, but looking very alive. And quite... joyful?

"Tenth- your ring!"

Tsuna looks down. Oh.

"Ha-haha, see?" Yamamoto grins, breath still a little winded, leaning on the railings. "I told you you could do it."

Tsuna's ring is hanging out his shirt, swinging on the metal chain; the blue dome cloaked in a clear, deep, warm orange flame, pulsing. Guess he does have some resolution after all.

Reborn is next to him, suddenly. Tsuna feels the tension dissipate, and he lets his Dying Will fizzle out. The biting coldness from the river water finally hits him in a flash, and he shudders with a whine. There's also the muscle pain from being in HDW mode making itself known, which he can handle alright, but it still  _hurts._ Aaauughh.

"W-where we- were you?" Tsuna stutters, voice rough, teeth chattering. He could see the girl in the river reaching the edge, and pulling herself out. She glares through her brown wet hair at them, arms red. Uhm.

"I was getting you a ride back home. Be grateful." Reborn turns his head, and Tsuna follows his gaze. A shiny black car rumbling in the distance is heading towards them.

The sky's getting dark, too.

"T-the ass-assins, w-w-what do we d-do 'bout..." Yamamoto drapes his sweater over Tsuna, and Gokudera rushes to get his off and on him too, hissing at the cuts. ''... thanks. S-So uhm. A-Are you...g-gonna?''  _Basement?_

Reborn hums, and crosses his arms.

"The decision is up to you." Oh come on.

Tsuna complains, but Reborn gives no room for argument. That girl's staggered out the river slopes, and is stumbling towards the bridge now, her acidic glare promising everything horrible. Why do things like this keep happening to him?

"Don't- don't want t' f-fight," Tsuna tries to get his point across. "Not- t b-basem-ment."

"You want to talk it out?"

Tsuna looks back at the girl... Chesca? Chesca, hair in wet clumps, sticking to her scarred, mutilated face, shivering, cradling her shaking arms,  _grinning._  He definitely doesn't want to knock her out and have her finding some way to die in his basement, but here's no way Tsuna can  _talk it out_!

"...Boss." A voice inches from his ear whispers, and Tsuna lets out a ear-splitting shriek, clutching the sweaters close.

''...Let me... help...''

''C-Chrome? Wh- when,  ** _wait_** -''

That creepy smile, and that  _feeling_... ''No w-way-''

_Mukuro?!_

''Chrome? When did you get here?'' Yamamoto asks, giving a confused, slack jawed smile. Gokudera's still a little in shock and gaping, because she pretty much just materialised out of nowhere.

''...fufu'' Chrome/Mukuro gives a little weird laugh, a finger to their lips.

Chrome's eye turn away slowly, and Tsuna follows their gaze to see Chesca, who was just standing still, only a few feet away from them now. Unmoving and silent. Smiling at... uhm... air.

What's she's staring at?

She then puts a trembling, bloody hand on her hips, chuckling. Then she reaches out as if to hold  _something,_ and takes it with both hands, as if holding an invisible watermelon. ...A really nice watermelon?

She then turns around, swinging a hand still clutching on nothing, and talking to nothing. And staggers away, further and further, till her silhouette disappears in the shadows of the streets.

"That's your head, boss."

"Eh?"

"She faked your death using illusions." Reborn explains, humming in approval. "Good thing only she can see it, isn't it?"

"Its... practice.'' Chrome... yeah, just Chrome, adds. "...I'll be taking this." Says Mr. Not-Chrome, putting a pale hand on the forgotten, passed-out assassin.

"Hmph, do as you like."

Reborn says, smiling from under a lowered hat, arms still crossed over his little yellow pacifier.

"We appreciate your help."

Schrödinger's Chrome's smile doesn't go away, but a frown settled on her forehead at Reborn's remark. She then pulls the assassin closer towards her, taking a few steps away from them. Her voice lowers, and a soft wind blows.

"...As if I'll ever help you rotten mafia."

And fades away before their eyes.

"... ..."

 **BEEEP**!

"Aaghh!" The trio screams, and in the same beat jumped, putting a hand over their frantic hearts and whip their heads to the direction of that sound to find—

The DC second-in-command, Kusakabe Tetsuya, in a car. Chuckling.

"K-Kus _akabe-san?!"_

Tsuna's pitch reaches new heights as he shrieked, and he gapes at Kusakabe. Too many surprises in one day! Too many! What if Hibari's here? Oh- no, no he's not. It's just... Kusakabe. Still trying to hide his mirth.

"Ahaha, my sincere apologies. Everyone just looked so tense..."

"Kusakabe owed me a favour, so he'll help drive you guys home." Kusakabe nods in confirmation through the car window, pompadour bouncing, a confident hand on a steering wheel. Is... is he really only fifteen?

"Go on, get in."

"Wait, I-I'm still soaked!" That looks like a  _really_  nice car. Hibari's already out to kill him. If he get's the seats dirty, he'll get double killed as a ghost! He'll get double killed so bad he's gonna be reincarnated with tonfa marks  _on his_   _face_!

"It's fine, Sawada. Please just get in."

Tsuna gets in, mumbling apologies.

The car is so nice. Tsuna doesn't get to ride in cars often, since Namimori is a small town and everything is near. The light rumbling of the engine, the leathery smell, the passing scenery... gosh this is so nice. He tries his best to sit on the edge of the middle seat to get as little river water on anything as possible. Gokudera sits on his right, and Yamamoto on his left, while Reborn takes the front seat.

Kusakabe is driving like a professional adult, smooth and mature, and has thankfully turned off the air-conditioning. He could be a full-fledged working adult in society and no one would look at him weird. Maybe except for his hair. That's how much maturity he's radiating all over right now. There's no way he's just turned fifteen.

Reborn leans out of his seat to turn his head behind, looking at him, and nudges his head towards Gokudera and Yamamoto. Then he stares at Tsuna until he get it. Leon on his hat brim, blinking at him.

The two of his friends were both looking worn out and still as roughed up, small cuts drying up. Both with their foreheads leaning on the car windows.

Oh.

"Uhm... Gokudera-kun, Yamamoto?"

They turn to him, Gokudera blinking a little blearily and not quite there. Oops, was he about to sleep?

Sitting right in the middle on the seat edge probably wasn't a very good position to say this in, since he can't look at both of them properly, but oh well.

"... Thank you."

Tsuna looks at his knees, and hugs the jackets a little closer, and closes his eyes, smiling. He can't believe his luck, having friends so wonderful, albeit a little outrageous at times. They've done so much for him, haven't they?

"...Gokudera-kun, Yamamoto, thank you so, so much."

-o-o-o-o-

**-Friday, December 19th-**

**-Two days later-**

It's been two weeks since Clarenzio first visited their house, bringing with him a whole poison capsule load of twisted intentions and truths, being general life-ruiners with good intentions, messing up Reborn's schedules and tutor plans and Tsuna's precious peace.

That's all over from today, though. No more scar faced dedicated heir killers. Or heir killer boss. Its all done.

It's over.

Reborn gives a glance to Tsuna's sleeping form. He's sleeping back to him, facing the pale wall. One loosely curled hand up near his face, the other arm over his stomach.

The soft, quiet breaths he lets out are slow and steady, face half buried in the pillow. The night covered the room with deep, dark cerulean shadows, and Tsuna's warm russet hair is standing out even in the dark, spikes messier from sleep. It's times like these that he looks so completely like the fifteen-year-old naive kid he is. He's...

Not quite sleeping. Reborn knows.

Reborn hops out open window, silent, and makes his way up to the rooftop, tiny feet making no sounds. The stars weren't out tonight, hidden behind grey clouds. He wouldn't have had much of a mood to appreciate them anyways, so that's fine.

Leon's cute little curved mouth is a little less curved than usual, and almost heading downwards. A very perceptive little thing, he is. He melts into goo and changes his form into a cellphone, as his partner wishes.

Reborn punches in the numbers, ready to give the full report.

The dial sounds out loudly, and Leon rushes to lower the volume, getting a little sticky in his panic. But considering how silent the town is at night, any noise is bound to be a little too much.

-click-

''...Ciaossu, Ninth.''

What a day it's been. Time to see if he really sent that order, though Reborn has a hunch.

_''It's nice to hear from you again, old friend. How are things on your side?''_

''Tsuna fulfilled your mission.''

'' _... ...''_

Silence... so that letter  _was_  real.

''The group of five and its boss, excluding one member who's whereabouts are unknown, are dead. The clean up department should be reporting to you soon.''

Reborn could hear Timoteo's strained sigh from across the phone, and a rustle of cloth. He's holding his face in a hand, Reborn knows him well enough to know. A little too late for regret, now.

_"Was... Tsunayoshi the one who..."_

"Mm."

That Tsuna didn't quite  _meant_  for him to die, that's for sure. But their boss is still dead. Nothing more sure than that.

_"How do you think he will... be from now on?"_

From now on, after what happened...

Reborn muses. Tsuna is, in a sense, a kid who is made entirely of contradictions. He's a weak-willed, cowardly, lazy, selfish, irresponsible teenager.

The same boy stood back up against Xanxus, fought against Mukuro and told him his convictions were Wrong. He fights with his fists, gloves that mirror the First's, using flames that burned from strength of Will. He is a student who doesn't care and doesn't try, who gets zero on his tests but has exponential growth rates when it comes to his friends, and what he cares about. He's ranked first in inability to refuse requests, but he's never stopped fighting against the Ninth's wish of his succession as a mafia boss.

He's a very normal, average, human teenager. Would there come a time where he contradicts that too?

"He'll grow."

Besides, if there's one thing his student was great at, it's bouncing back. He always bounces back. Once the crisis was over and done with, he'll be back to his usual self, as if it never quite happened, and he's as okay as ever. Somehow, he really is.

The lull in the conversation stretches on, and Reborn stares at the tiles from the neighbours' roofs. Leon is probably getting tired by now, the phone case starting to soften into something jelly like, without the syrup.

There's not much to say to something like this, honestly. It's terrible and horrible and disgustingly their reality, and its bound to happen. Sooner or later. And, as shitty as it sounds, the sooner the better.

Time to move on forward.

''...Ninth. Tsuna asked something not that long ago. I'm quite curious about it too.''

_''What is it?''_

''What happened to that lifetime supply of tomatoes?''

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How does Reborn keep getting the last word freaking
> 
> Anyone remember the 'lifetime supply of tomatoes' reward the Ninth promised if Tsuna could defeat Mukuro? What ever happened to that. where are the tomatoes
> 
> So here is Tsuna's first kill! Approximately around the same time as Byakuran got fried. Vastly different situations and level of intent though.
> 
> Also, I almost went in another direction for the fight, where Takeshi and Hayato end up having to witness the gory detailed death illusion of Chrome's design and Tsuna has to go like "eek!" because that's horrible and try to cover their eyes. But that's too much trauma for me to write a good follow up to and I don't want to go too dark, its not fun
> 
> Also! Kusakabe is like fourteen in the khr guidebook I always thought he's just a senior forced to stay in middle school from sheer loyalty but wow he is fourteen. wow
> 
> Next chapter, maybe a proper explanation of what happened.
> 
> Leave a comment if you like! I'd love to know what you think of this story so far!


	6. Red

**-Wednesday December 24th-**

So, five days ago, something happened.

Tsuna killed someone. Tsuna, the 15-year-old civilian middle schooler, killed someone and he wasn't even in his hyper mode.

Though, he didn't have a shred of killer intent with him then. It's a case of the usual- too strong a push, too weak a body, and a very well placed sharp fatal piece of debris on the sand. Couldn't do anything but watch him choke on his own blood and die, apparently.

If anything, he should feel proud. He just put an end to someone who had put more ends to plenty of young, upstanding, future crime lords.

Bianchi sighs, and puts a gentle hand on Hayato's pale, blue-ish forehead, brushing his soft silver hair back. Such a troublesome little brother. His dear sister greets him at the door, and he answers with foam in his mouth. And when she had such wonderful news too.

"There's... really no need for the full Italian buffet course, Bianchi." Tsuna insists, face in cold sweat. "I know we're  _kinda_  overloaded with tomatoes right now but... uh...''

Of course he doesn't appreciate her effort to celebrate his first kill with a beautiful red-purple spread. But, it's not a problem.

" **I will complete it**."

Tsuna squeaks, backing up nervously into a stack of boxes, almost knocking them over. For goodness sake, those boxes are crowding all over the house.

Just yesterday, a truckload of tomatoes was dumped in front of their door. The deliverer had given Tsuna a document, and explained in broken Japanese, that the sudden bunch was to make up for the previous months of delay for his reward from completing the Ninth's first mission; the lifetime supply should continue in less outrageous amounts. They're free to share the bulk, if they so wish.

"You know, Tsu-kun," Nana appears from behind the kitchen door, a knife in her hand, decorated in lovely red tomato juices and chunky jelly bits. "Your dear mom  _really_  appreciates that you've won us a life-time worth of tomatoes at the mall lottery, but... isn't this a little much? They're wonderful and gorgeous, but it's making the whole house smell all funny!"

Tsuna glances at the knife, face paling.

In hindsight, it probably wasn't a good idea to have the tomato-based feast only days after a civilian teen's first murder. If only it didn't pile up around the already crowded house, making everybody suffer. But then again, this is the future boss of Vongola. Getting accustomed as soon as possible would be good for him. Plus, again, it's a celebration. Rite of passage!

"You were going somewhere, right, Tsuna?"

Her love appears, standing cool and mysterious atop the shoe rack in his beautiful crisp black suit and dashing, handsome curly sideburns. Gosh, he always knows the right thing to say, doesn't he?

"Going...? Oh, uhm y-yeah! Going somewhere. For, for a... while." Tsuna stutters, nodding his head. It's incredible how much this kid can't lie to save his life. It's probably a good thing that his mother is a fortified brick wall covered in 50 inches of commercial foam. As wonderful as she is, she just does not  _see_.

"But Tsu-kun, you just got back from school! What about homework?"

"Eh? I'll uh, do it at... uhm... Yamamoto's place! Yeah!" Tsuna plops down on the floor, putting his shoes back on in a rush. "Come on, Gokudera-kun."

Hayato stirs on her lap, and with a start, staggers on to his feet.

"Y-Yes! Tenth!"

He's still looking blue, an over-accessorized arm clutching his weak little excuse of a stomach, but his recovery is much faster than what it used to be a year ago. It's incredibly tempting to turn his head back from admiring the blank wall towards her face, though.

"Come back before five. I still need to brush up your Italian vocabulary, capisci?"

"Eek— okay! Okay!"

"Well, why not bring some tomato boxes with you? Here," Nana puts away the glistening kitchen knife, and picks up two of the beige, clam print branded boxes from the kitchen table with a small huff. Tsuna shifts his bag sling up proper on his shoulder, and takes both the boxes in his arms. "Be good!" Nana reminds him, Tsuna nodding absently, shifting his grip on the cardboard.

Wouldn't that be hard, now.

"Alright, I'm off!"

-o-o-o-

Maybe this wasn't a good time.

"Tsuna, Gokudera! Are you guys here to hang out? Ah, man... Sorry, but I really have to help out my old man today!" Yamamoto claps his hands together in an apology, still wearing a white Takesushi apron and headband, face sweaty. "Maybe later?"

Behind Yamamoto, Tsuna could see the restaurant filled with customers and students, since it was nearing the end of the school semester and some wanted to celebrate. Tsuna had been a little unsure when he saw how many people there were, but... he wanted to at least greet Yamamoto before wasting time somewhere else. See how he's doing.

"N-No! Uhm, it's my fault for coming at a bad time..." Tsuna waves a mitten-covered hand at Yamamoto under the boxes. "Just wanted to say hi, and—"

"Takeshi! That your friends? Bring them in, will ya!"

"Eh? But-"

"Come on, it's cold out, right?" Yamamoto's dad, looking just as busied as Yamamoto, leaned as much as possible over the counter and above the sea of customers, waving a hand at them to come in. "There's a good place in the corner, just let them hang out there!" He yells, and points a finger towards the corner, giving them a bright grin.

"...Well, you heard my old man." Yamamoto gives a matching grin, beaming, and reaches over to push Tsuna and Gokudera into the crowded restaurant. "Welcome!"

"H-hey, don't push me, idiot!"

"Uhm, wait, but—"

"You two can still be customers, right? Haha!" Yamamoto leaned a little closer, and points at a table in the corner of the restaurant. "Go on and take a seat there, I'll get you both something to eat. Catch up later! Then!" Yamamoto ushers, leading them through the crowd, swiftly going back to work after seating the two of them.

He... sure looks busy.

Tsuna laughed a little at Gokudera's dark grumbling, then crouches down to set the tomato boxes on the wooden floor, right under the table. Those, Tsuna thinks, he'll give later. Once the Yamamotos are less busy.

He tugs off his white mittens, setting them aside on the table and pulls out his... homework... with a sigh. Alright.

Gokudera follows his lead and brings out his papers, a book, stationary, and a pair of half-rimmed glasses. He flips them open with shake of a hand, and slides it on his face.

Tsuna might never say it to anyone, but. Gokudera with glasses looks like a whole different person. Like he... fits right in in some place with a lot of other really smart, quiet, hardworking people. He  _is_  kind of a genius. But then, a place like that probably would not a good place for short-fused dynamites and criminal activity. Who knows.

The two of them work on their papers for some time. Gokudera mumbling under his breath, scribbling harshly on the paper with a small pencil once in a while. Tsuna holds his forehead in one hand, twirling a pen in the other. Not quite mumbling, but more of a... low, soft, dragged out whine of frustrated confusion, and maybe distress, because its math and he  _can't_  math.

A rustle of grey paper across the table catches Tsuna's eye, and he sees a senior from a neighbouring school. Holding up a folded piece of newspaper in a hand, reading while she's absently nibbling on a piece of grilled fish.

And there. A row underneath the big Headlines, in a small, dark grey box, was a familiar scene from five days ago.

**Foreign Man found Dead on Beach!**

_Two days ago, a local beach resident Hiji Kuroma, 45, found the body on the Namimori beach, far from the waves. The body is still unidentified. It is unclear if the fatal wound was inflicted or accidental, or if the man was washed in from the sea. Police are still investigating, but they report not finding any leads_

The hand shifts and covers the rest of the text, and Tsuna looks away.

He still can't believe that actually happened.

Tsuna remembers from about... two years ago, when Moretti and Reborn had made him think he just shot someone to death, for a  _greeting_. It was horrible, and scary, and he really thought he just shot someone to death and going to jail, that he's never going to be able to look his friends in the eyes again. He also had to take a long while to clean the fake blood from his pyjamas and his room. But in the end, there's definitely something a lot more real watching someone bleed and die from something he did than wake up to a dead body.

Besides, Reborn had to give him a Talk. About murder and conscience, and how to live with it and how they have things handled so he won't get caught and put in jail and stuff. And slap him till he says something other than 'mmh.', that sort of thing.

Gokudera moves to stack back his papers, and puts away his pencils— and a steaming plate of rice and grilled fish was placed on his side of the table, along with some warm tea. Food's here!

"There's a little less people now, so, I can chat a little while." Yamamoto greets them again, a little breathless. He pulls out a seat, a tray of food in his other hand. "Tsuna, space?"

"Oh- uhm, yeah." Tsuna puts away his homework in a rush, stacking the papers sloppily. Yamamoto sets down his portion in front of him once he was done.

"Whoa— that looks great! How, how much for this?"

"Haha, my old man's treating! There's been a lot of good business lately, anyways, so don't worry about it." Yamamoto says, and drags a chair from a nearby table over, dropping butt first on the chair while letting out a long breath. He tugs off the headband to wipe at his forehead with an arm. "Eat up!"

" _yes!"_ Gokudera cheers under his breath at the prospect of free food, fist punching the air, not really bothering to hide his delight.

"Go-Gokudera-kun..."

He then digs in like a starved cat, while Yamamoto laughs. He then took a drink from a cold milk carton, let out a satisfied sigh, and leans back on his seat.

"...Hey, Tsuna. There's something I've been thinking about lately."

Tsuna hums, poking at his food. He really doesn't feel like putting anything in his mouth, but he's pretty hungry. And that looks really, really good. Plus... it was on the house. But considering he just killed someone five days ago, the appetite is just not really there.

Four people died within two weeks, because of him. He really should be feeling a lot worse about this.

"We've been friends for about... a year and a half now, wow. Haha! So, I think," Yamamoto scratches the back of his head, with a eager grin. " maybe we can start calling each other by names? What do you think?"

"A year and a half? Whoa." Tsuna holds a bowl in one hand, a piece of fish hanging on a chopstick. "Though, thinking about it, we have been calling each other by surname for a long time, huh..."

"And Tsuna, you get everyone to call you by your name! Except for Goku— Hayato... hehe."

Gokudera choked on his rice, and chugs down some green tea. Clearing his throat with a loud cough, he glares at Yamamoto, snarling.

"Che, what makes you think I'm friends with you?"

"What- you..." Yamamoto stares back at Gokudera, face blank. Tsuna could see his hand becoming slightly tighter around the plastic milk carton, not enough to crush it, but enough to be worrying. "You're really still..."

Sparks are flying again. Gokudera seems to be  _growling_  now, and Yamamoto's face had pretty much turned into a complete frown, which might as well be the worst expression to ever be on Yamamoto's face. Maybe coming over to the Yamamotos really was a bad idea, and, and they were busy! He should have gone to the park, or—

"Takeshi! Take over for a while, that alright?" Yamamoto's dad calls, and steps out from behind the counter, wiping his hands on a cloth. "You won't mind me having a little chat with your friends?" Uhm.

"Oh- uh, yeah! Sure." Yamamoto answers his dad, then turns back to face them, putting back on his headband.

"...We're friends." Yamamoto says, standing up. "Call me Takeshi from now on, yeah?" He grins, then jogs back to the counter, tossing the empty milk carton into a bin from a distance with a perfect arc. His dad gives him a smack on the back, laughing, and Yamamoto-

Takeshi laughs along, and continues with his work.

Tsuyoshi approaches them, face in a casual grin. Its scarily clear who Takeshi got his face from, Tsuna thinks.

"Heya, kiddos! Hows the food?" Tsuyoshi says, leaning an arm on a chair. "I had a real hard time cutting up those fishes, haha!"

"It's, uhm. It's really good! Haha..." Tsuna replies, still holding on to the piece of fish. Gokudera hums and nods, somewhat agreeing. Its... strange, how well behaved he's being, considering his hatred towards adults and people of any resemblance to Takeshi. "Thank you so much for the treat, really!

"Glad you think so, but kid... You haven't eaten any."

"Eh, ah—" Damn, he hasn't taken a bite the whole time. "Sorry!"

"Well, don't worry about it. You can take it home for later if you want." Tsuyoshi laughs it off, then lays a big, warm hand on Tsuna's shoulder, lightly giving him a shake.

His voice softens. "I've heard about what happened from Reborn."

''R-Reborn?"

Oh yeah. Yamamoto's dad was a swordsman, right? Part of the murder gang.

Tsuna's surrounded with people from the murder gang. Gokudera's in it. Reborn's in it. Hibari was probably in it since he was 5, as a pastime or something.

Even Tsuna is in it, now.

"Yeah. He just jumped in my window at 2 am and told me all about it." Yup, Reborn. "All your buddies know, right?

Tsuna does a little half nod, half shake, and raises his shoulders a bit. Yeah...sort of...

Gokudera, Takeshi, and Ryohei was with him, along with Reborn. Chrome... may have been there, he's not sure. She was there, but  _kind of_ not? Hibari stalked them, while keeping a strict distance. He was there too.

Except for Lambo, they all saw it happen.

They were all pretty nice about it, honestly. Gokudera stood by him. Scowled at the cooling body, kicked some sand on it, clicking his mouth. Chrome's blurry figure was behind a tree, giving a small wave. And a smaller, maybe-smile. Then she completely dissipated into the air with a gust of wind. Hibari then pounced out of nowhere, jacket fluttering in the sea breeze but somehow staying firmly on his shoulders. Smiling, teeth bared.

Tsuna had wondered if he was finally here to bite him to double death, but he just greeted them with the usual animal kingdom based threats. And then said... something about him finally using his fangs. And then rode his motorbike away, far from the sand, with Kusakabe. Who also, appeared out of nowhere?

Ryohei came in a little late to the scene, but got the gist of it from Reborn pretty soon. He was... extremely quiet. Arms crossed and all. But when he saw Tsuna looking at him, he... blinked. And gave Tsuna a big, heavy pat on the shoulder. Told him not to do it again, in an uncharacteristically soft voice, while Tsuna nodded. He still stood next to him while the Clean Up crew arrives, to rid the place of any evidence, tracks, any traces of their presence, leaving the body for others to find.

It's so messed up. His friends all stood on his side. Its wrong, it's so  _wrong_.

"That baseb-... ...Your son," Gokudera pipes up, after finishing the rest of his tea. "He thought it was fake."

_"Man, that sure was realistic, right, Tsuna? It's incredible what they can do these days."_

Tsuna wasn't sure if its some kind of double lie, to break up the tension, or if Takeshi was genuinely convinced its all still a game. He couldn't tell. The laughing felt pretty real, as did his pale face.

"Ahh, Sounds like my boy. Treats things like a game, and bottles up everything inside." Tsuyoshi sighs and pulls back his hand, standing up straight again. Tsuna has to strain his neck to look up. Why are the Yamamotos all so damn  _tall_?

"But... the time he joins us won't be far."

"Us?"

Tsuyoshi's eyes darken, age showing on the grim lines etched on his face. Tsuna watches in dread as he held his left palm open, and hung his head low. His eyes are then fully covered in dark, cold shadows, no longer looking like the friendly sushi chef just moments ago.

"The Shigure Souen Ryuu... is a sword of  **murder**. No matter who wields it."

_"Hey... I, uhm, don't have to do something like that, right?"_

"NO! That—" Tsuna blurts out, hand gripping the table. "S-something like that, I-I won't..."

The restaurant dim a little in noise, giving him a side-eye at the outburst, but quickly return to their conversations after Gokudera's scorching death glare. Takeshi peeks over the counter at them, curious.

Tsuna bit his lips, groaning a little.  _He won't..._

Takeshi is his friend, Tsuna thinks to himself. He's been dragged into enough of his messes. He is  _not_  going to be a murderer.

Straining his neck, eyes wide and brows furrowed, he looks at Tsuyoshi, meeting his shadowed, old eyes.

"I won't let that happen!"

Tsuyoshi blinks at him, then grins, eyes crinkling.

"Well, try your best, kid! I'm glad," He laughs, messing up Tsuna's wild hair with a rough hand. "That the one Takeshi picked up the sword for was you."  _That's not good at all!_

"Alright, Takeshi! Take care of the customers, will ya?"

"Oh! Sure!" Takeshi steps out from behind the counter, looking a little disappointed that he's not getting more break time, but goes to the customers with his usual bright cheer.

He can't let that ever happen.

"Well, Tsunayoshi, would you want to package that home?" Tsuyoshi gives a look at Tsuna's untouched plate, an open palm towards it.

"Eh- no, no, I'll eat it here..."

After a small round of 'you sure?' and 'yes, really', Tsuyoshi goes back to work, looking a little brighter. Tsuna lets out a tired breath, and leans back on his chair with a small creak, looking down on the wooden floor.

Oh, and that thing.

"You know, Hayato... kun..." Hayato chokes a little on the air, but says nothing, giving a slow nod. "I've just realized something."

"Y-yes, Tenth?"

"This is a Sushi Restaurant!" Tsuna despairs. "I can't give them tomatoes!"

-o-o-o-

Tsuna managed to finish his meal around 4pm, and leaves Takesushi. With Hayato by his side, along with his tomatoes, and a full stomach.

Tsuna sighs, shuddering at the winter air. The sky outside looks as pale and grey as usual, and there's a light layer of snow patching the ground, messed up with footprints and dirt.

They've still got an hour... so, where to?

Not wanting to block passerbys and look like an aimless teen, Tsuna walks away from the restaurant, musing. His footsteps make small, crunching sounds, and his breath materializes in white puffs. Hayato walks slowly next to him, both hands cradling the second box of tomatoes... Are his fingers twitching?

"Go- Hayato-kun?" Tsuna asks, and Hayato turns to him, humming. It still feels a little weird to actually call him by name. "You doing okay?"

"Oh, I'm just. In the mood for a smoke, but..." Hayato says with a sheepish smile, and bounces the tomato box a little.

Tsuna stops walking, and Hayato pauses along too. Tsuna then turns to face him, and lifts his box up, stacking it over Hayato's with a small thud.

Hayato splutters, and Tsuna continues walking, arms crossed, a little embarrassed that he  _actually_  just did that to him. Though, still having no destination in mind. Maybe they could just... walk the hour away.

"Tsuna-san!"

"Tsuna-kun?"

Tsuna turns to his left at the call. Kyoko and Haru was there, hand in hand, carrying small cake boxes with the other, waving it lightly. They're both dressed fashionably, covered in matching cute scarfs and warm jackets. Their hair lightly dusted with snowflakes, cheeks a rosy red from the cold.

Haru rushes forward like a speeding car with no regards to road etiquette and gave him a big, enthusiastic hug, squeals included. Tsuna guesses it's a good thing Hayato's holding onto all the tomatoes right now; that could have been  _messy_. Kyoko giggles into her mittens, voice like a bell, soft gold hair bouncing lightly, and  _gosh_  she's so cute.

Haru finally notices Hayato behind Tsuna, and they immediately duke it out on the empty street. She's probably on the same level of 'fight on sight' as Takeshi is, for Hayato. Tsuna tries to get them to calm down, but they seem to be having too much fun shouting at each other, both threatening to start throwing food on their faces. Hayato already has a shining, red and ripe tomato on the ready in his bare hand. They're mostly arguing in circles though, not really going anywhere, so Tsuna just... takes a few steps back. Nothing he can do here.

Kyoko is next to him, both hands clutching the handle of the pastel blue cake box. Looking at him...?

"Uhm... Tsuna-kun, I hope you don't mind me asking..."

"O-Of course not! Ask ahead!" How can anyone refuse when she's looking at them like that?

"Are you okay, Tsuna-kun?"

"Eh?"

"Well, after you all were done with finding the rare crab Bianchi-san lost," Was  _that_  what Ryohei told her? "Onii-chan came home all serious looking. And he acted really strange whenever I mentioned you, you know."  _That's your standard?_

"Uhm, well... Things got a  _little_  weird lately...haha," Tsuna tries to smile. Could have been worse, Reborn had said. Could have been much, much worse. "Things are g-great now, though! Don't worry about it."

Kyoko side-eyes him, still a little unsure.

"ACK-!" A red splat.

"Gokudera! You  _ass_!" Haru shouts, face covered in tomato flesh, red juice all over her face, dripping. "You'll pay for this!"

"Ha-Haru-chan! Not the cake!" Kyoko gasps.

Haru gently shoves the cake box into Kyoko's arms, and picks the remaining tomato bits to throw back at Hayato. Who's looking a bit panicked now, and shouted, stepping back and waving. "W-wait! Don't—" Red bits splatter on his jacket. "...I got this for a good price, damn it!"

He puts down the tomato boxes, and holds out fistfuls of tomato like how he holds dynamites. Face in a dark scowl and a sharp grin, fire burning bright in his eyes. Tsuna gulps.

"Tomato war!"

Honestly, not the best thing to happen in front of someone who just recently committed murder, but okay.

Of course, they get pulled into the police station for public disturbance. Covered in a bright, sticky, candy red, looking fresh out of a crime scene. How are they never in trouble for  _actually_  breaking the law? Tsuna sighs, tired and exasperated, and wipes juice out from his eyes, somehow pulled in to the Tomato War. He should never have asked about the tomatoes.

"Arghh! Why does this always happen to me!" Tsuna holds his head in his hands, whining. Haru tries her best to cheer him up, with heartfelt, tear filled apologies, also looking like she'd fit right in a low budget horror film. At least she's not that upset about her clothes getting ruined...

Hayato had run off at the sight of police, since his dynamites would put him in real trouble. Hopefully, him being completely covered in a glaring red, head to toe, wont make him easy to catch. But then again, this is Namimori. What he should really worry about is Hibari.

Good thing Kyoko had an umbrella with her, or they'll have to worry about Ryohei too.

Tsuna peeks through his sticky hands, and stares at his red covered feet. It was horrible having to watch all that happen, since it keeps reminding him of  _that guy_ , especially, on his friends, but he feels a little less queasy about it now.

Though, it's weird, that he hasn't gotten any nightmares or anything, or scary murder flashbacks. It's weird, because he  _can't_  bring himself to regret anything.

Even weirder is, he had a feeling that someone else...  _someone_  else... was there.  _Weird_  feeling.

It'll probably all get to him later, though. He's got that intuition-y gut feeling of impending Bad Times', which are surprisingly easy to pin down, because its usually just called dread.

"Come back tomorrow to clean that street up, alright, kid?"

-o-o-o-

**-December 30th –**

**-6 days later, Winter Break-**

* * *

_A clear night sky, the sand soft, shifting under the sea waves. There wasn't much of a fight, honestly speaking. The boss of the assassin group that specialises in killing heirs, that killed the Vongola's previous heirs, was there on the sand. Facing up, with a frozen smile. A clean, smooth face, unlike his subordinates, dark brown hair tussled in the wind. He looks about 20, Tsuna realises._

_He's dead. Tsuna saw it happen. Made it happen._

_When he turns around..._

* * *

Tsuna wakes up with a start, drenched in cold sweat, gasping. His hands clutch the bed sheets in a steel white grip, trembling.

What the  _hell_?!

"Tsuna?"

_What the hell?_

"Re-  _Reborn_...? I, I— "

His vision starts to blur, and he feels his heart clench, tight, and it's getting increasingly hard to breathe.

Reborn is here. Sitting on top of his legs before him, with his pointy black hat, and his little yellow pacifier,  _broken, colourless—_

Then the dam breaks with a harsh quake, and he's struggling to hold back sobs, tears building from his eyes and flowing, more and more, shudders wracking through his body, and he's  _wailing_  now, loud and stupid and what the hell, what the hell!

"What did you see?"

Tsuna tries to breathe in, just, just  _calm down_ , but there on the sand, covered in a dark, dark, disgusting  _crimson_ ,

_His friends, cold and still and silent and not a breath_

"Was it him?"

Tsuna wipes at his face with his forearm, but there's too  _much_ , and he puts up another arm to hold it in, failing. He ends up cradling his head in shaking arms, curling up with harsh breaths. But he manages a wobbly, curt shake of his head.

It, it was  _him_ , but it wasn't what...

Reborn lays a small, chubby hand on Tsuna's knee. Tsuna is still shaking like a drenched cat, but it helps. The short stubby fingers hardly give enough reach or warmth, but.

It helps.

''Tell me what you saw, Tsuna. I can't read minds.''

Tsuna peeks at him through wet sleeves, eyes all red and swollen, still trembling with muffled sobs. He really...?

Reborns waits for him.

Tsuna scrunches his eyes shut, breathing out, and grips the sleeves on his arms.

"He-"

God, his voice. He doesn't remember ever sounding so pathetic. Tsuna takes a deep breath through his mouth.

"He was t-there. Just there." Tsuna swallows, and tries to breath proper. "He's just lying there the whole, time. On the sand. Did nothing."

Reborn keeps his small hand on Tsuna's knee, listening.

"When, when I turned aro _und-"_ Tsuna's voice cracks, and he curls up into a ball, completely hiding his face. He doesn't continue for a long while, just hugging himself, small and trembling on his blankets, and Reborn waits.

For several long, stretched out moments, nothing happens.

_"Tsu-kun? Breakfast is ready!"_

Nana's voice sounds through the house, and Reborn watches as Tsuna sits up straight again, blinking his golden orange eyes, face streaked all over with tears, face so  _red._ He stared at the wall for a while, then wipes at his eyes franticly, and as sudden as it came over him, the sobs slow and cease. His breaths are still harsh, and erratic, but settling.

"It- its just a, a dream." Tsuna presses both hands on his eyes for a while, elbows on his knees. His soft voice coarse, wavering. "Just a horrible dream, stupid Tsuna."

Reborn tugs at the cloth of his arm sleeve. Tsuna blinks at him, tired eyes starting to feel sore. He lets Reborn pull down his right arm.

He puts something in his palm... That-

_Safety and Absolute Victory!_

The small, pale blue yarn charm, slightly battered and dirty and light, was there. Tsuna feels a warmth spreading in his heart, and his eyes start to blur again. No-

Tsuna squeezes the charm in his palm. No.

Reborn watches, as Tsuna holds the charm tight in his fist near his forehead, as if a prayer, brows furrowed. His big, bright eyes hiding the spark of flames, face still stained wet from tears.

Reborn can't help but feel a little proud. That's his student.

_"Tsuuu-kun? Breakfast? It's your favourite~"_

His student jumps, startled, and almost drops his charm, arms flailing to catch it properly.

"Uh- y-yeah! I'll be down in a- just a moment!'' Tsuna staggers clumsily out from his bed, and trips, face down, feet tangled in his blankets. He groans a little from the pain, and pushes himself back up in a rush to make himself more presentable for breakfast.

Before he heads to the bathroom to wash his face up proper, he suddenly stops himself with a hand on the doorframe, and almost trips again from the momentum.

''Uhm-"

He blinks his eyes, and takes a moment to breathe. He swallows, and wipes at his wet eyes one more time, with a equally wet sleeve, only to smudge his face with drying tears.

"Th-thank you. Thank you, Reborn.''

Tsuna gives him a big, wide, watery smile, face a complete mess, looking still a bit shaken over what he had dreamt. And rushes back out, only to trip down the stairs, crying out each step of the way.

_"Oh my, Tsu-kun?"_

He's the best student Reborn could ever ask for.

* * *

_When he turned around, his friends were there._

_Scattered, lying on the sand, dressed in crisp black suits that were stained red. The crimson covered their hands, just like Tsuna, and on their faces, and everywhere- when had it stopped flowing?_

_And not far off, a small, pointy black hat with an orange band, battered and dirty with more red, on the sand._

_Then its tugged off by the sea wind, revealing underneath a small, round, pacifier. Broken and colourless..._

* * *

**-New years eve-**

They'll be having a small New Years party tonight, at Tsuna's house! Most of his friends are here to help out with setting the party decorations, while his mom prepare a spread enough to feed an army. She's going to go all out, today.

Tsuna struggles, sweat building on his face, biting his lips, to cut the multi-coloured papers into proper rectangles for decoration. Despite his effort, they all come out all irregular and jagged at the edges. It's just paper. Can't he even cut paper?

He grumbles, and looks at what everyone else is doing instead. He can't fail at just looking.

By the TV on a small table, Ryohei is making paper flowers with Lambo, Ipin, and Fuuta, layering the thin paper and tying them, fluffing them up so they look like carnations. Lambo with a pile of crumpled paper in his stack of 'completed flowers', Ipin making paper cut flowers instead, while Fuuta tries his best to follow Ryohei's lead.

Takeshi was painting letters to hang up, since he happened to be the best at calligraphy among them. Maybe it's a swordsman thing?

Hayato is helping him out with the paper decorations, and with much more success in cutting proper, consistent paper rectangles. His meticulous measuring and marking of each individual rectangle means he's taking as long as Tsuna is, though. But hey. As long as they're making them.

Dino is also going to be celebrating New years with them, but he's got some  _things_  to settle first, so he's not going to be here till later.  _Things,_ that Dino had said, with finger quotes, and a innocent smile, while one of his people punch their palm, snickering. Tsuna is not going to ask.

Reborn had thankfully sent Bianchi out on a faraway trip per his request, so she doesn't try to feed them her special love filled New Year deserts. He's just leisurely napping on the couch now, Leon on his hat.

Tsuna had tried to get Chrome over (Reborn insisted, though Tsuna wasn't sure she would actually want to) but when he went to Kokuyo Land, he found himself walking back out. He didn't try going back in, since he had a piece of crumpled notebook paper in his hand with the words 'Don't come again'.

Kyoko, Haru and Hana are coming too, later.

Tsuna briefly looks at the whole room for a moment, at everyone, and he found his breath hitching. It's actually New Years, Tsuna realises. The year is finally coming to an end...

It's been a really intense year, hasn't it?

Tsuna thinks back, to all those shenanigans with Dino and his family for the earlier New Year celebrations.. Meeting Fuuta, who came running for safety and had stayed ever since. That zoo trip with Kyoko and escaped lions, and, a weird period of time with Naito Longchamp that he's surprised he still remembers.

And, there's that  _almost_  vacation at Mafia Land, Bianchi's June Wedding with robo-Reborn, the swimming competition with scary third years at the beach, the summer festival where they sold chocolate bananas and fought the delinquents with Hibari, meeting a real actual  _ghost_  and almost getting pulled into the other world... Back then things were so weird and crazy and. It was fun. Tsuna shakes his head at himself. It was... some of the most fun he's ever had. As much trouble as it had been.

But after summer, things started to get scary.

Mukuro came along, with his followers of jail-broke serial killers. And sent the strongest of Namimori middle school to the hospital, pulling off their teeth in some morbid countdown, just to find him and eventually start World War III. Then the Varia, for some stupid Old Ring set, came all the way to Japan to kill him and all his friends. His friends all got hurt again, because of him.

And those creepy scarred heir assassins. Who did it for what, fun? Tsuna wouldn't be surprised if they had some secret deep dark motive related to the Vongola or something.

Intense would be an understatement for a year like this. But right now, Tsuna can't help but feel so, so glad that they're all alive today after all that's happened.

They're all alive!

"What's your New Years Resolutions, Tsuna?" Takeshi asks, suddenly beside him, a juice box in his hand. Looks like he's done with his lettering. Tsuna shifts a little to make space so he can sit down. "Mine's to beat my homerun record, and get Hayato to call me by name, alright, Hayato?"

"Tch." Hayato's face twists into a scowl, inching away and cutting the paper with increasing, furiously dark, ebbing killer intent.

"New Years... Resolutions? I-I don't know yet..." Tsuna shrugs, not being able to think of a good one, and doubts if he even has the determination to accomplish stuff like that.

"It's probably to ' _go on a date with Kyoko-chan_ ', no?"

"Reborn! It's not!"

"And ' _be a good student for Reborn_ ' , and ' _be fluent in Italian when you're a third year_ ', and ' _be a great Vongola Boss_ ', right? Right?"

"Obviously not! No way! It's not happening, okay?!" Tsuna shouts at Reborn, exasperated. "I'm not going to be a mafia boss!"

"You're still saying that after all that's happened?"

"And I'll keep saying it! No!"

"I'll definitely get you in the boxing club, Sawada! That is my  **extreme**  New year resolution!" Ryohei shouts with a passion, buried under a pile of paper carnations, fists clenched in the air. "And I'll make Boxing our national sport!"

That's too extreme!

"Lambo will rule the world!" shrieked Lambo, laughing obnoxiously, pieces of paper stuck in his hair, sticky with glue. Tsuna could see the edge of his PSP peeking out from the dark depths, beyond salvaging. It's Lambo's now. Ipin yells at Lambo in her mother tongue, and occasional "bad!" in Japanese, till Lambo asks about her new years resolution.

Then she mutters, "Ipin... master, find!"

"I want to fill another book of Rankings!" Fuuta adds, eyes sparkling. Is. Is everyone just shouting their resolutions out?

"Hmph. None of you will ever figure out what mine is." Hayato sneers, arms crossed, sneaking glances at Tsuna.

It's totally what everyone thinks it is.

Takeshi snorts, and starts to laugh. Then the room burst into laughter, because laughter is contagious and Hayato's resolution totally what they all think it is! Hayato blinks at them, confused.

While they all try to breathe again, wiping at their eyes, Tsuna realizes... he might have one New Years resolution after all. Though it's a little embarrassing.

His mom peeks in the living room, beaming, and calls them up to help bring out the feast. Everyone picks themselves off the messy floor excitedly, and Tsuna watches them go.

"So, got one?"

Reborn asks, smirking, before Tsuna joins them. He's totally a mind reader!

Tsuna shrugs, trying to hide a smile. He feels like a total sap saying this. But its one he feels the strongest about, and one he doubts he will ever give up. And he'll do anything to make that stupid dream not come true. So he admits his to Reborn, in a soft whisper barely able to be heard by either of them.

"...I want to be with my friends."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took forever, especially the last part, for some reason. It also ended up going on for way too long. eeesh
> 
> I have barely any idea how to write first time killers. I mean I read about it a little on how it kinda stays for a long time and you might see them everywhere you go, but like, eh
> 
> I'm always a little conflicted on what kind of Tsuna to write. Tsuna, a very cute but slightly burnt cinnamon roll, or Tsuna, 15 year old who incinerated a man before his friends till not even ashes were left, was never shown to be even a little affected, and could talk to the man's younger self like normal
> 
> One thing I'm sure of though is that his guardians ain't gonna ditch him when he kills someone. Half his team are already killers. Heck they're all reincarnations of murderers with a mission
> 
> So this ends the 'after Varia' chunk. Next is about the year after, where Tsuna is a third year! And a lot of stuff happens probably in a much shorter length of writing
> 
> As of why they went to the namimori beach in the first place... Maybe the boss led them there.
> 
> If you liked reading this fic, and wanna see more, or have any questions, please leave a comment!


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